Gilts

The yield on two-year British Government debt hit a fresh historic low of 2.847 per cent, extending its slide of the past two sessions as gilts prices rose on expectation of a big cut in interest rates next week. Goldman Sachs forecasts a cut of 1 per cent to 3.5 per cent. The December long gilt contract rose 25p to £112.34.

Rumour of the day

Back in the early 1970s, Algy Cluff made his first fortune selling his North Sea oil discovery to BP. Now he runs Cluff Gold in West Africa. The miner’s shares rose 1.5p to 14.5p on talk that its second mine, in Ivory Coast, had just poured its first gold, keeping the company on track to meet next year’s production target of 60,000 ounces.

Deal of the day

Michael St Clair-George, a non-executive director of New Britain Palm Oil, bought 109,436 shares in the owner of Malaysian palm plantations at 145p each. The shares, up 49p at 197p, have been on the slide along with the falling price of oil and its palm oil alternative. The company recently gave warning that revenues would fall next year.

Bet of the day

Gold has continued its decline as the strength of the dollar reduces the attractiveness of gold as a hedge against inflation, despite global interest rate cuts raising inflation concerns. The yellow metal was trading at $726.50, down 1.5 per cent an ounce yesterday, with WorldSpreads’ rolling spot spread at £726.70-£727.20.

Tiddler to watch

Hampson Industries, the provider of lightweight composites to aircraft makers, rose 3¼p to 111½p as the strike at Boeing appeared close to resolution. The strike, and fears that demand from airlines will collapse, have hurt the shares recently, though the announcement of a deal with Airbus on Thursday did improve the sentiment.

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