Vanguard's head of international rates added to position favoring gilts after UK budget

LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Vanguard's head of international rates told Reuters he added to a position favouring long-dated British government bonds on Wednesday following a highly-anticipated budget.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves delivered a budget that will raise taxes to double her margin to meet Britain's fiscal targets, more than markets expected, even as it raises welfare spending.

"The measures being backloaded is a concern. But having the headroom north of market expectations is positive as it shows the government is serious about fiscal consolidation," said Ales Koutny, head of international rates at Vanguard, which manages $11 trillion in assets.

Koutny said he had trimmed a long position on longer-dated British government bonds or gilts ahead of the budget. He added back to that position on Wednesday.

Koutny said that he had a taken a long bet on sterling, essentially a view that its price will go up, ahead of the budget and Wednesday's news confirmed that view.

"We are now long sterling and we expect the market to feel more confident that there are no (budget) surprises."

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; editing by Yoruk Bahceli)