Australian bonds jump ahead of Q2  consumer price inflation

Australian government bonds jumped during Asian session of the first trading day of the week Monday as investors wait to watch the country’s consumer price inflation (CPI) for the second quarter of this year, scheduled to be released on July 31 by 07:00GMT.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, slumped 3 basis points to 1.208 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond plunged nearly 3-1/2 basis points to 1.865 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year too suffered 3 basis points to 0.859 percent by 04:35GMT.

Wall Street had another record session on Friday led by the tech stock rally, whilst UST bonds were little changed (10-year at 2.07%) and the USD strengthened after White House adviser Kudlow ruled out plans to intervene in FX markets, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

"Asian markets may tread water today amid a light economic data calendar. For the week ahead, key will be US-China trade talks starting tomorrow in Shanghai for the first face-to-face talks since the stalemate in May (albeit market expectations for a breakthrough have been dialled down, especially after Trump’s comments that China will probably wait until after the 2020 elections to reach a trade deal)," the report added.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index remained tad 0.22 percent higher at 6,765.50 by 04:40GMT.