Gilts have opened lower, with the......>

GILT SUMMARY: Gilts have opened lower, with the yield curve shifting higher by

around 1.3bps as UK markets react to release of Fed Jan FOMC meeting minutes

that overall appeared on the hawkish side. Continued uncertainty in domestic

politics and UK's position on Brexit is seen underpinning Gilts though. 10-yr

Gilt yield is 1.2bp higher at 1.567%.

- Fear of possible greater Fed rate hikes appeared to be the spark that led to

sharp sell-off in long-end of the Treasury curve.

- Back in the UK, domestic politics appears to coming to the boil again as PM

May and her Brexit sub-committee try and thrash out what type of relationship

the UK wants with the EU after Brexit. However there has been a negative

reaction to the release of a draft position paper on the transitional period

with the Telegraph reporting sources saying that it was not signed off by the

Cabinet.

- Second estimate of Q4 2017 GDP data is released at 0930GMT with consensus

seeing it unchanged from the 0.5% q/q reading. While the DMO re-open 0.125% 2036

IL Gilt for Stg900mln