Reading a yield change beside a price change
A gilt row carries a change in its yield and a change in its clean price, and the two always point in opposite directions because they measure one movement from two sides.
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Guides to gilts and to using GiltIQ, written against the site's own data and pages.
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Two gilts with the same coupon are not the same gilt
Two gilts paying the same coupon can carry different clean prices and different yields, because the coupon says what they pay and the maturity says how long they pay it for.
Where the price on a gilt row comes from
The clean price on a gilt row is a stored close from a named source, and the gross yield beside it is computed from that price rather than quoted independently, which is why the two agree by construction.
Redemption yield is not the coupon rate
A gilt's coupon rate is fixed at issue, while its redemption yield depends on the price paid, the coupons collected and the £100 repaid at maturity, so two gilts with very different coupons can offer the same redemption yield.
Ex-dividend and negative accrued interest
A gilt goes ex-dividend a week before each coupon, and from that day a buyer no longer receives the next payment, which is why the accrued interest on the row turns negative.
Accrued interest and the coupon period, worked through
Accrued interest is a half-year coupon scaled by the days elapsed in the coupon period, and reading the three-decimal figure beside its day count is what makes a gilt's price checkable.
Why a gilt's yield appears in two columns
The list shows a gilt's yield twice, once compounded annually and once on the Debt Management Office's semi-annual convention, and the gap between the two columns is a convention rather than a market move.
Clean and dirty price: the questions readers ask
A gilt carries a clean price, an accrued interest figure and a dirty price, and the short answers to the questions readers ask about the three are collected here.
Yield up, price down: one market move, two readings
A gilt's yield and its clean price are the same figure read two ways, so the list's two Since the previous close views describe one market movement rather than two separate events.
Gilts in an ISA or SIPP
The gilt is the same instrument whichever wrapper holds it, but the wrapper decides how its coupons are taxed — and for gilts, whose gains are already tax-exempt, the shelter that matters is income tax.
Buying above or below par
A gilt bought below £100 is bought at a discount and one bought above it at a premium, and the clean price relative to par is exactly what the yield to redemption reconciles into a return.
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Comparing yield conventions
A reference to the three yields GiltIQ shows for a gilt — gross, DMO and net redemption — and the rules for comparing them without mixing conventions.