The Bank of England battled a renewed sell-off in UK government bonds on Wednesday after its vow to end its emergency gilt-buying programme unsettled markets already unnerved by the fiscal plans of prime minister Liz Truss.
The central bank bought £4.4bn of gilts from investors, its biggest intervention since it entered the market last month to prevent “fire sales” by UK pension funds in the wake of government plans for unfunded tax cuts.
The sell-off had intensified earlier in the day after the BoE insisted the programme would end on Friday, in line with overnight comments by Andrew Bailey, governor, that pensions funds had “three days left” to shore up their positions.