Australian bonds range-bound in thin trading activity; upbeat riskier assets weigh

The Australian bonds traded range-bound at the start of the trading week as investors remain aloof from major trading activity amid signs of possible muted session as market lacks release of any influential data. Further, the rise in riskier assets like oil and equities have kept safe-haven demand on the downside.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose 1/2 basis point to 2.50 percent, the yield on 15-year note hovered around 2.91 percent and the yield on short-term 1-year crawled nearly 1/2 basis point higher at 1.63 percent by 04:40 GMT.

Asian stocks posted their biggest daily rise in a month on Monday following modest gains in US shares, though the greenback came under renewed pressure as Washington's political turmoil undermines confidence in U.S. economic policy.

The bounce in Asian stocks was the best performance since April 25 and has notched up gains of more than 17 percent for the MSCI emerging stocks index compared to 8 percent for the world index even as some investors grew wary of the outlook, reports said.

Lastly, the Australian bonds have been closely following developments in oil markets because of their impact on inflation expectations. The International benchmark Brent futures climbed 0.80 percent to USD54.03 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) jumped nearly 1 percent to USD50.80 by 04:40 GMT.

Meanwhile, the ASX 200 index traded 0.56 percent up at 5,784.50 by 04:50GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained neutral at -36.50 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex