Australian bonds jump tracking U.S. Treasuries following disappointment in December jobs report

The Australian bonds jumped during Asian session of the first trading day of the week Monday, tracking a similar movement in the U.S. Treasuries after jobs report in the States for the month of December disappointed market sentiments, along with the weakest wage data in over a year.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, slumped 4 basis points to 1.213 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond plunged 5 basis point to 1.825 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year suffered 2 basis points to 0.798 percent by 02:30GMT.

A softer than expected US’ nonfarm payrolls print of 145k (versus market expectations for 165k) for December, accompanied by a downward revision of the November data from 266k to 256k and the weakest wage data (+0.1 percent m/m) in more than a year weighed on investor confidence, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

While the headline NFP provided market players with a reality check that the US labor market was softening, nevertheless there was still encouraging signs in the steady unemployment rate at a 50-year low of 3.5 percent. This should provide the Fed with sufficient comfort to stay on pause mode for the near-term, the report added.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded tad 0.11 percent higher at 6,830.50 by 02:35GMT.