Australian bonds surge on risk-aversion following US’ strike on Iranian military general

The Australian bonds surged during Asian session of the first trading day of the week Monday as investors turned risk-averse, after the United States’ carried out a strike on Iranian military general Soleimani.

This in turn, triggered the benchmark S&P 500 index to post its biggest decline in a month as UST bonds rallied to push the 10-year bond yield down 9bps to 1.79 percent, whilst gold prices rose to $1,588 an ounce (highest since April 2013) as safe haven demand rose.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, plunged 5 basis points to 1.212 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond slumped 5-1/2 basis points to 1.824 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year suffered 3-1/2 basis points to 0.797 percent by 02:30GMT.

Essentially, the risk of military escalation cannot be discounted at this juncture as the Iranian government has said it would no longer abide by the uranium enrichment limits, while US president Trump told lawmakers he is prepared to strike Iran “in a disproportionate manner” if there is retaliation against any US targets, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

"Asian markets may mirror the flight to safety concerns today to start the week amid the elevated Middle East tensions," the report added.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded tad up at 6,645.00 by 02:35GMT.