Australian bonds flat after RBA downgrades GDP, inflation forecasts for this year; labour market to be closely eyed

Australian government bonds remained flat on the last trading day of the week Friday after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) downgraded its economic forecasts for the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and inflation through this year, in its quarterly Statement of Monetary Policy, released early today.

Also, the central bank pointed that more detailed attention needs to be given to Australia’s labour market at its upcoming policy meetings.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, hovered around 1.724 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond traded flat at 2.345 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year too remained steady at 1.321 percent by 04:05GMT.

With economic growth failing to meet expectations by some margin in the second half of last year, the RBA has degraded its near-term GDP forecast to 2.75 percent by the end of this year, down from 3 percent projected three months ago.

Like GDP, with underlying inflation also missing market estimates, the central bank now foresees a slower rate of progress in returning it to the bottom of its 2-3 percent target, now forecast by mid-2020 rather than the end of this year as seen three months ago.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded flat at 6,262.5 by 04:10GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained neutral at -52.47 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex