the bank of england has drawn a line under the turmoil that engulfed uk gilts last fall confirming on thursday it has sold all the bonds it bought as part of its efforts to stabilize a market roiled by the government’s illfated budget “the bank has today completed its sales of the £193bn 234 billion portfolio of temporary holdings of uk government bonds purchased in autumn 2022 on financial stability grounds” said the boe a debtfunded taxcutting budget delivered in september by chancelloratthetime kwasi kwarteng had spooked investors and forced a spiral of bond selling by pension funds who were caught out by highlygeared derivative positions as gilts were dumped the 30year yield tmbmkgb30y  to which pension funds were highly exposed soared from 32 at the start of the month to 5 just four weeks later a move whose speed threatened not just the pension sector but also the housing market as mortgage rates jumped and offers were pulled during the uncertainty the central bank bought £121bn of longdated conventional gilts and £72bn of indexlinked gilts between 28th september and 14th october to prop up the market and its intervention has had the desired effect thirtyyear gilt yields on thursday were 3707 a retreat that means the boe has likely made a profit on its purchases “to ensure the bank delivered on its commitment that the purchases would be temporary in nature the bank began unwinding these purchases on 29 november the gilts in this portfolio were made available to interested buyers via reverse enquiry windows this approach helped ensure that the unwind was responsive to market demand and did not trigger renewed dysfunction” said the boe the turmoil sparked by kwarteng’s budget saw him sacked shortly after by prime minister liz truss who herself was forced out by conservative party members in october having lasted just 45 days in number 10 making her the shortest serving uk leader the british pound gbpusd  which plunged to a record low around 103 at the height of the bond market selloff on thursday traded at 12160