"It really does go to show how much optimism there is on the back of the OMT (ECB bond-buying plan)"
- Marc Ostwald, a strategist at Monument Securities.
The U.K. placed 3.81 billion euros of debt in an auction on Thursday, with nation's borrowing rates dropping sharply from the previous auction. The average yields on British government securities, due to mature in 2022, dipped by 0.93% to 1.822%. Demand strengthened slightly, with bids exceeding supply 1.82 times.
"It really does go to show how much optimism there is on the back of the OMT (ECB bond-buying plan)," said Marc Ostwald, a strategist at Monument Securities.
"There is decent demand out there for risk and peripheral paper and obviously yesterday's German court ruling and last week's ECB announcement have underpinned this move," said Michael Leister, rate strategist at Commerzbank in London.
The FTSE 100 Index gained 0.65 per cent to 5,819.92. The broader FTSE All-Share Index increased by 0.60 per cent to 3,036.49.
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