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Australian government bonds continued to hover near 4-month as investors awaited the December employment report, which would allow the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to decide on future interest rate path.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose 1-1/2 basis points to 2.7662 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year note dipped 1 basis point to 3.455 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year up 1 basis point to 2.074 percent by 03:40 GMT.
Australian employment report for December are due on Thursday and another upbeat result would likely see the odds narrow further. Market expectations are for a rise of about 15K in employment with the unemployment rate remaining unchanged at 5.4 percent.
On the other hand, the Australian central bank has repeatedly warned that a sustained rise in the local dollar would drag on economic growth, tempering speculation about an early hike in its 1.5 percent cash rate. While the futures market has narrowed the odds of a rate rise this year, a move is still not fully priced in until December with August as a 50-50 shot, Reuters reported.
Still, the central bank should have been comforted by a run of upbeat domestic data in recent weeks. The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan index of consumer confidence out on Tuesday showed an increase of 1.2 percent to reach the highest since October 2013. Notably, the survey's index of current finances rose strongly and this tends to have a better correlation with actual spending patterns than overall sentiment.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded 0.24 percent lower at 6,009.5 by 03:40 GMT, while at 03:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained highly bullish at 110.86 (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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