New Zealand bonds remain mixed at close ahead of GDT price auction, Q2 GDP

The New Zealand bonds remained mixed at the time of closing Monday as investors wait to watch the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP), scheduled to be released on September 20 by 22:45GMT, besides, the GlobalDairyTrade price auction, due on September 19 for further direction in the bond market.

At the time of closing, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, slipped 1 basis point to 3.01 percent, the yield on 7-year note also fell 1 basis point to 2.86 percent while the yield on short-term 2-year ended 1/2 basis point higher at 2.12 percent.

New Zealand general election will be held on Saturday, September 23. Current polling is pointing to a very close race between the incumbent right of centre National Party and the main centre-left opposition Labour Party. If the current government returns to power, it probably won’t have a big impact on our forecasts.

However, if there is a change in government, the stance of policy could shift in a number of important areas, including fiscal and monetary policy, the housing market, immigration, and environmental policy.

"We expect that they will show the economy expanded by 0.8 percent over the quarter. That would leave the level of output in the economy up 2.8 percent over the past year. The expected firmness in the June quarter reflects a rebound from earlier temporary weakness in the agriculture and transport sectors," Westpac Research commented in its latest report.

Meanwhile, the NZX 50 index ended 0.05 percent lower at 7,758.71, while at 05:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly NZD Strength Index remained neutral at 28.63 (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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