U.S. Federal Reserve officials were struck by the early apparent success the Bank of England's plans to buy government bonds and could further consider moving forward on a similar effort in the United States, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

Gilts prices have soared, bringing yields lower, since the Bank of England announced last week it would start buying bonds.

The U.S. central bank said in December it would consider buying long-dated Treasury bonds in an effort to lower borrowing costs. However, the subject has been rarely raised this year, leaving investors to bet that if the plan goes forward, it will happen later rather than sooner.

It is unclear whether the Fed will decide to take new steps at its next scheduled policy meeting on March 17 and 18, the paper said.

The Bank of England said last week that it would buy assets -- mainly government bonds -- with 75 billion pounds of newly created money to get the recession-hit economy growing again, writing a new chapter in the country's monetary history.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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