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Australian bonds remain upbeat in thin trading amid dip in consumer confidence

The Australian bonds remained upbeat Tuesday in thin trading activity that witnessed data of little economic significance and as the country’s weekly consumer confidence edged slightly lower for the second straight week in a row.

Also, investors shall be awaiting to read along the lines of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) Assistant Governor Debelle’s speech, scheduled later in the day for further direction in the debt market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, plunged nearly 2 basis points to 2.37 percent, the yield on 15-year note slumped close to 3 basis points to 2.72 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded 1-1/2 basis points lower at 1.66 percent by 03:50 GMT.

ANZ-Roy Morgan Australian Consumer Confidence edged 0.5 percent lower last week, down for the second week in a row. The sub-indicators continue to show volatility. After a sharp drop the previous week, households’ views around current financial conditions were largely unchanged (down 0.2 percent), while views towards future conditions fell 1.7 percent, following four consecutive weeks of gains.

"The labour and housing markets will likely continue to be important influences on confidence. Any further improvement in the unemployment rate would be positive, although the recent softness in the housing market suggests that it will not provide significant support for confidence over the near term," said Felicity Emmett, Senior Economist, ANZ Research.

Lastly, with some Asian markets returning from holiday today, the trading tone may remain tentative for this week with little economic data to watch for.

Meanwhile, the ASX 200 index fell 0.19 percent to 5,657.50 by 04:10GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained highly bullish at 147.77 (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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