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.
Two change cells on one row
On the conventional gilts list a row carries a change beside its clean price and a change beside its gross yield. Both describe the move since the previous close, and they never carry the same sign. When the yield change is positive the clean price change is negative, and when the yield change is negative the clean price change is positive. The pair is not two pieces of news; it is one piece of news reported twice.
The units differ as well, which is part of why the two cells can look unrelated. The yield change is normally quoted in basis points, where one basis point is one hundredth of a percentage point. The price change is quoted as a move in the clean price and as a percentage of it. They measure the same event on two different rulers, and converting one into the other needs the modified duration, which is why the duration column is worth reading beside both.
A row worked through
Take an illustrative gilt whose report shows a clean price of 96.50 at a gross yield of 5.00% on one day, and a clean price of 95.77 at a gross yield of 5.10% on the next. The two changes are a yield change of +10 basis points and a clean price change of −0.73, or about −0.76% of the previous price. A modified duration of about 7.6 years explains the size: 7.6 multiplied by 0.10% is 0.76%, which on 96.50 is the 0.73 of price the row shows.
| Reading | Previous report | Later report | Change |
| Clean price | 96.50 | 95.77 | −0.73, or about −0.76% |
| Gross yield | 5.00% | 5.10% | +10 basis points |
| Direction | — | Yield higher, price lower | One movement, two signs |
Every figure in the table is an illustration with its inputs stated, not a quote from any gilt. On a real row the exact clean price, yield and duration come from the site's calculation against the day's report, and the two change cells are derived from the previous stored close rather than recomputed by hand.
The duration explains the size of the move, not its direction. Direction is forced by the fixed coupon; duration only says how far a given yield change travels into the price.
What each cell is for
The yield change is the market's move stated in the unit the market uses. It is the figure a reader would compare with a move in the benchmark curve, with another gilt's move, or with a commentary about yields rising or falling. The price change is the same move stated in the unit a holding is valued in: pounds and pence per £100 nominal. A reader who holds the gilt sees the price cell as the effect on a valuation; a reader comparing gilts sees the yield cell as the effect on the return.
- A positive yield change means the gilt got cheaper; a negative one means it got dearer.
- The price change is scaled by modified duration, so two gilts with the same yield change can show different price changes.
- Neither cell is a forecast: both describe the last session, and a single day's move carries no information about the next. A run of sessions in one direction is a different observation, and it is the trend column rather than the change cell that records it.
- A blank cell means no previous report was available in the lookback window, not that the gilt did not move.
Why the two views exist
The list groups the same rows into two Since the previous close views: the gilts whose yield rose, so their price fell, and the gilts whose yield fell, so their price rose. The views are the same universe sorted by direction, and the count of gilts in each is a description of the session rather than a signal. On a day when the market repriced, one view is large and the other small; on a quiet day both are sparse and the flat rows are in neither.
It is worth reading the two views together rather than one alone. A high count in the yield-up-price-down view says the session moved against holders of gilts; the same day's count in the other view says how many gilts moved the other way. The pair describes the breadth of the move, and the curve page describes its shape.
Local move or market move
A gilt can appear in a view because it moved or because the whole curve moved around it. The gilt yield curve distinguishes the two: it plots every priced gilt against its fitted benchmark, so a shift along the whole curve looks different from a single gilt moving against it. A row whose yield change is in line with the curve's move is the market repricing; a row whose change is far larger or in the opposite direction is a local move that the change cell reports without explaining.
That distinction is the difference between a datum and a story. The change cell records the move; the curve records the company the gilt kept while it moved. Reading the two together is what stops a single row being taken for a market event.
Background, not advice
This article explains how to read a gilt row's yield change beside its price change; it is general background, not investment, tax or legal advice for any reader's circumstances. A price that has moved is not a realised gain or loss unless the gilt is sold, and the figures above are illustrative with their inputs stated. The daily report and the gilt's own record are the primary sources for a real price, yield or change.