Australian bonds relapse on profit-booking, track U.S. Treasuries

The Australian bonds relapsed Friday as investors cashed in profits on the last trading day of the week after witnessing a long rally through the week. Further, investors will also be focusing on the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) meeting, due to be released next week.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, jumped 5 basis points to 2.87 percent, the yield on 15-year note also climbed 5 basis points to 3.26 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded nearly 2-1/1 basis points higher at 1.84 percent by 04:10 GMT.

The lift in the unemployment rate in February was disappointing, to say the least, and it now appears to be trending up. With other indicators suggesting that the labour market is in better shape than the official figures indicate, it is certainly hard to argue that any progress is being made in reducing surplus capacity in the labour market.

Lastly, markets will now be focussing on the RBA Assistant Governor (Economic) Luci Ellis and Deputy Governor Guy Debelle’s speech, scheduled to be held on March 20 and 22 respectively.

Meanwhile, the ASX 200 index traded 0.22 percent up at 5,792.50 at 04:40GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly AUD Strength Index remained highly bullish at 124.35 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex