Australian bonds nearly flat in muted trading ahead of December employment report

The Australian bonds remained nearly flat during Asian session of the first trading day of the week Monday as investors remained side-lined in a muted session that witnessed data of little economic significance ahead of the country’s employment report for the month of December, scheduled to be released on January 23 by 00:30GMT for further insight into the debt market.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, hovered around 1.181 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond remained flat at 1.794 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year lost 1-1/2 basis points to trade at 0.766 percent by 02:40GMT.

US equity markets set fresh record highs on Friday, led by tech stocks amid market optimism following strong US housing starts which surged 16.9 percent in December to an annual 1.61 pace, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

The S&P500 rallied 0.39 percent, whilst the UST bond yield curve steepened further amid concerns about US Treasury plans for regular 20-year bonds sales in the first half of this year (last issued in March 1986), with the 10-year bond yield at 1.83 percent, the report added.

"Asian markets may be off to a muted but positive start this morning, following positive Friday cues from Wall Street, albeit with US markets closed for holiday today," OCBC further noted.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index traded tad 0.08 percent higher at 7,028.50 by 02:45GMT.