UK 30-year borrowing costs hit highest since 1998 amid oil price surge and political uncertainty – as it happened

UK 30-year gilt yields jumped to 5.77%, the highest since 1998, as oil/fuel-price shocks and political uncertainty around the government/local elections pushed long-end borrowing costs sharply higher. The move underscores a broader inflation-risk repricing across developed rates markets, but the UK is being hit harder than peers because it is more exposed to energy-price shocks and fiscal credibility concerns. For precious metals, the main takeaway is that higher inflation expectations and policy uncertainty are supportive for gold on the margin, even if this is not a direct metals market story. Rising long-dated yields can also create cross-asset volatility, which tends to keep haven demand bid when investors fear a combination of stagflation and political instability. Near term, focus stays on whether the oil spike persists and whether UK politics add a further risk premium into gilts. If 30-year yields continue to press higher, that would reinforce the inflation/sovereign-risk narrative that typically supports gold, especially if broader European and US bond markets continue to soften alongside Middle East tensions.