U.K. MONEY MARKET OFFERED EARLY ASSISTANCE The Bank of England said it had invited an early round of bill offers from the discount houses after forecasting a shortage in the system of around 1.1 billion stg. Money market dealers speculated that the central bank could be taking the opportunity to signal a reduction in U.K. Base lending rates by cutting the rates at which it intervenes in the discount market. Most operators are expecting a base rate cut today, possibly of one point, following yesterday's budget in which the U.K. Public sector borrowing target for 1987/88 was slashed by three billion stg. Among the main factors affecting liquidity, bills maturing in official hands and the take-up of treasury bills will drain some 1.11 billion stg while a rise in note circulation and bankers' balances below target will take out around 120 mln stg and 20 mln stg respectively. Partly offsetting these outflows, exchequer transactions will add some 140 mln stg to the system today.