.Australian bonds edge tad up ahead of RBA’s February meeting minutes, January employment report

The Australian bonds edged tad higher during morning hours of the first trading day of the week Monday ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) February monetary policy meeting minutes, scheduled to be released on February 18 by 00:30GMT and the country’s labour market report for the month of January, due on February 20.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, slipped nearly 1/2 basis point to 1.069 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond also fell 1 basis point to 1.672 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year remained nearly flat at 0.762 percent by 05:15GMT.

Global risk appetite was mixed on Friday, with the S&P500 gaining a modest 0.18%, but UST bonds also advancing and the 10-year yield touching 1.57% amid the long President’s Day weekend. Meanwhile, China’s Hubei province reported 19,33 new cases with additional 100 deaths, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

Asian markets may tread carefully today, awaiting fresh cues from the Covid-19 outbreak and anticipated policy responses from Asia, the report added.

"We think President Xi has set the tone for striking the balance between fighting the virus and ensuring the stable economic growth. On one hand, China will further step up its efforts to contain the spread of disease in the epicentre of Hubei province via further restricting people movement. On the other hand, China will try to encourage companies outside Hubei province to restart operations as soon as possible," OCBC further noted in the report.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded tad 0.09 percent higher at 7,062.50 by 05:20GMT