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Australian 10-government bond yield plunged to over 1-month low on the first trading day of the week Monday amid lingering reports that China is considering to cancel all trade talks with the United States scheduled for this week, thus boosting safe-haven prices and taking a bow on equities.
The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, plunged 5 basis points to 1.742 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond slumped nearly 5-1/2 basis points to 2.362 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded nearly 3-1/2 basis points lower at 1.299 percent by 03:20GMT.
Notwithstanding the better-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls and unemployment data (+263k and a fresh 49-year low of 3.6 percent respectively), global risk appetite took a turn for the worse on Friday after US president Trump threatened to lift tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on around US$200 billion of China imports this Friday because bilateral trade talks are progressing “too slowly”, OCBC Treasury Research reported.
"On US-China trade talk, It seems that Trump’s twitter overnight was a reaction to the slow trade negotiation. It remains to be seen whether it is just a negotiating tactic ahead of a new round trade talk this week. However, the risk of misfire is getting higher should China react strongly," the report added.
Fixed income markets were steadier in the aftermath of the volatility that surrounded the FOMC statement and press conference on Wednesday. Money markets are digesting the clear message from the Fed that it is a long way from cutting interest rates any time soon. Real private final demand is expected to strengthen in coming months. In a low inflation environment, that positive growth backdrop is being well received by both credit and equity markets, ANZ Research reported.
Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index suffered 1.45 percent to trade at 6,258.5 by 03:25GMT, while at 03:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained highly bearish at -138.74 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
