Central Banks
BOE Sells £750 Million Bonds in Move to Pull Back Stimulus
- Central bank sees £2.4 billion of bids in Tuesday’s auction
- BOE looking to trim bloated balance sheet in inflation fight
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The Bank of England sold £750 million ($860 million) worth of UK government bonds from its quantitative-easing portfolio for the first time on Tuesday, as the once-largest buyer of gilts looks to trim its mammoth holdings.
The central bank said it received £2.44 billion of bids for the various short-maturity gilts it put up for sale, a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.26. The bonds are from the BOE’s asset-purchase facility, which accumulated close to £900 billion in government debt at its peak last December.