The UK central bank said on Thursday it is postponing an auction of £600 million of long-dated government bonds due on April 14 “in light of recent market volatility”.

Bank of England deputy governor Sarah Breeden said the postponement was a precaution and should not be seen as any signal about the direction of the UK central bank’s monetary policy or its broader asset sale plans.

On Wednesday, UK 30-year government bonds recorded their biggest one-day fall since October 2022, sending yields on these UK debt securites to their highest since 1998, amid US President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.

The UK gilts reversed most of those losses on Thursday after Trump said he would temporarily suspend many of the tariffs.

The UK central bank said the auction of gilts with a maturity of over 20 years, part of its efforts to sell off much of the £895 billion of UK government debt securities it bought between 2009 and 2021 as part of its quantitative easing stimulus, would be delayed until the following quarter.

Instead, the central bank will hold an auction of £750 million of UK government bonds with a maturity of three to seven years on April 14.

The central bank said: “The Bank set out the schedule for sales in Q2 2025 of gilts held in the APF (Asset Purchase Facility) for monetary policy purposes in the 21 March 2025 Market Notice.

“In light of recent market volatility, the Bank will amend this schedule, and auction short maturity bonds on 14 April, instead of long maturity bonds.

“The Bank intends to reschedule the long maturity auction to the following quarter, in order to continue to reduce the APF as evenly as possible across maturity sectors, measured in initial proceeds terms. The schedule for Q2 is otherwise unchanged, as set out in the table below.

“The Bank executes the programme of sales of gilts held in the APF for monetary policy purposes, in line with the MPC’s key principles.

“First, the MPC intends to use Bank Rate as its active policy tool when adjusting the stance of monetary policy. Second, sales are being conducted so as not to disrupt the functioning of financial markets, and only in appropriate market conditions.

“Third, to help achieve that, sales are being conducted in a relatively gradual and predictable manner over a period of time.

“As set out in the 21 March 2025 Market Notice, 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, or any other aspect of its approach at its sole discretion.

“The Bank expects to announce the sales schedule for Q3 2025 at 4.30pm on 20 June 2025.”