gilts

Gilts are seeing prices fall and yields climb after the worse than feared decline in the UK economy was revealed this morning.

The UK's public debt pile has climbed above £1trn for the first time ever, after the government borrowed almost £14bn last month.

Gilt yields have fallen to another record low as investors' appetite for UK debt remains strong amid eurozone woes.

M&G Investments bond manager Richard Woolnough has revealed he is currently favouring US treasuries over gilts, as the latter are already priced for more quantitative easing.

The yield on gilts tumbled near to record lows this morning as investors piled into any sovereigns which have retained their AAA-status after widespread EU downgrades.

Standard Life Investments' £9bn Global Absolute Return Strategies (GARS) fund has cut its exposure to UK gilts, taking profits as yields hit record lows.

The UK has sold £700m of long-dated index-linked gilts for a negative real yield of 0.116%, the lowest level ever recorded.

Old Mutual Asset Managers' bond fund manager Stewart Cowley has warned investors in gilt funds face major headwinds in 2012, after falls in yields to record lows left them with little protection from coupons if prices start to come down.

International investors are buying record amounts of UK government bonds as the Bank of England's £75bn QE programme spurs demand, with the yield on the 10-year gilt hitting a new record low.

2011 has been a year when some of the most popular emerging market managers paid the price for the breakneck growth of recent years, with investors fleeing to safe havens as equities tanked amid the eurozone debt crisis.