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Australian bonds slumped across the board on the first trading day of the week Monday as investors moved towards riskier assets following buoyant wine exports data, pushing the benchmark Aussie 10-year Note yield to highest since March 14. Markets now await the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) April monetary policy meeting to understand future policy action from the central bank.
The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year Note, which moves inversely to its price, rose 2-1/2 basis points to 2.752 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year Note climbed 1 basis point to 3.333 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year also surged 2 basis points to 2.100 percent by 03:00 GMT.
According to the Xinhua news, the total value of Australia's wine exports to the world’s second-biggest economy touched a decade high, rising 16 percent in a year’s time to AUD 2.65 billion.
In the United States, Treasuries saw limited action to finish off the week on Friday during a relatively quiet session light on data of great significance. On the data front, markets were largely limited to University of Michigan consumer sentiment, decreasing to 97.8 in April, from 101.4 in March and JOLTs US job openings decreasing to 6.052 million in February, from 6.228 million in January, neither of which did much to change the overall tone of data in recent weeks.
With respect to Federal Reserve speakers, markets received both ends of the spectrum with Boston Fed President Rosengren calling for an additional three rate hikes in 2018, while St. Louis Fed President Bullard continued to highlight disagreement with the current path of policy. Markets now look ahead to a greater flow of data in the week ahead, highlighted by retail sales, Empire manufacturing, housing starts/building permits and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing release. Additionally, markets receive a 5Yr TIPS auction on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded 0.44 percent higher at 5,833.5 by 03:10 GMT, while at 03:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained neutral at 30.68 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
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