#2: Issuance for the week......>

GILT AUCTION PREVIEW: #2: Issuance for the week will conclude for the week in

today's second auction with GBP2.00bln of the 1.75% Jan-49 on offer.

- The gilt is the current 30-year benchmark and the auction will be the last

auction before the new 2050 gilt is launched in the first half of June (we have

pencilled in 9 June as the launch date). This will be the third auction of the

gilt in this fiscal year (with no further reopening currently scheduled). The

previous two auctions have seen bid-to-covers of 2.3-2.4x with tails of 0.2bp

and 0.1bp respectively. The 1.75% Jan-49 gilt has been the long-dated gilt most

purchased as part of the APF programme since the resumption of QE was announced

on March 20.

RESULTS: Auction results will be released shortly after the auction closes at

11:30BST with a further GBP500mln nominal available through the PAOF to

successful bidders.