Bank of England gilt operation comes to an end

£10bn limit for Friday purchases

The Bank of England’s emergency programme to buy UK government bonds comes to an end on Friday (14 October), with up to £10bn in bonds planned to be purchased during trading.

The central bank is buying longer-dated and inflation-linked bonds today, and the maximum size will be £5bn, the central bank told Bloomberg. Earlier on Friday there were reports the bank had hinted it might increase the upper limit of bonds purchased a day to £11bn. However, the BoE has not come close to hitting its daily target since the programme launched. The central bank had earmarked £65bn to be sent buying up the bonds, but by close of play Thursday it had purchased just £17.8bn, with the highest daily total at £4.7bn. This week has seen the most activity with a combination ...