Australian bonds suffer on rebound in risk sentiments after Trump hints at "great progress" on U.S.-China trade talks

Australian government bonds suffered during Asian session of the first trading day of the week Monday tracking a rebound in risk sentiments after the United States President Donald Trump hinted at “great progress” over the trade talks with China and also that a trade deal with Japan could come after the latter’s July elections.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, rose nearly 1-1/2 basis points to 1.550 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond jumped nearly 3 basis points to 2.221 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year also gained nearly  3 basis points to 1.142 percent by 04:05GMT.

Wall Street eked out small gains on Friday while the 10-year UST bond yield was at 2.33 percent. Over the weekend, European Parliament elections also pointed to mainstream, pro-establishment and pro-EU parties holding their ground against populist, euroskeptic and anti-establishment parties, OCBC Treasury Research reported in its Daily Treasury Outlook.

In addition, US President Trump will meet Japanese PM Abe for one-on-one talks today and also meet the new Japanese emperor.

"Asian markets may trade sideways today with the US markets closed for Memorial Day holiday," the report added.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index remained nearly steady at 6,457.5 by 04:10GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained neutral at 1.45 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex