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LONDON, March 24 (Reuters) - The Bank of England said on
Friday it would sell 9.24 billion pounds ($11.29 billion) of
government bonds from its quantitative easing stockpile between
April and June, down slightly from 9.75 billion pounds in the
first quarter.
The BoE added that it would hold fewer auctions than in the
first three months of the year, but the average auction size
would be higher at 770 million pounds rather than 650 million
pounds.
Gilt sales would be spread evenly across maturities, as
before, the central bank said.
The sales form part of the BoE's plan to lower its
quantitative easing holdings by 80 billion pounds over the space
of a year. Around half the reduction will be achieved through
letting gilts mature, while the other half requires outright
sales.
Sales of gilts with a residual maturity of three to seven
years would resume on April 3, seven to 20 years on April 17 and
those with more than 20 years would restart on May 4, it said.
The sales come at a time of heavy issuance by the United
Kingdom Debt Management Office, which needs to sell 241 billion
pounds of government bonds over the coming financial year.
DMO chief executive Robert Stheeman told Reuters last week
that the BoE's previous sales pattern had contributed to a "very
crowded" schedule of auctions for investors.
Some investors had also noted that the relatively small size
of BoE auctions had limited buyer interest.
"The Bank will continue to monitor the impact of its gilt
sales programme on market conditions, and reserves the right to
amend its schedule, including the gilts to be sold and the size
of its auctions ... at its sole discretion," the BoE said.
($1 = 0.8183 pounds)
(Reporting by David Milliken, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)
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