Australian bonds slump in muted trading ahead of RBA’s August monetary policy meeting minutes

The Australian government bonds slumped in subdued Asian session of the first trading day of the week Monday ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) August monetary policy meeting minutes, scheduled to be released on August 20 by 01:30GMT.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, jumped 4 basis points to 0.924 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond surged nearly 6 basis points to 1.504 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded nearly 2 basis points up at 0.753 percent by 05:00GMT.

Global risk appetite got a booster shot on Friday from hopes that Germany may ease off on its balanced budget policy and expand borrowing if the economy enters a recession. Wall Street closed higher while UST bond yields traded a tad higher on Friday, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

"With a positive lead from the global equities, Asia should be greeted by good equity sentiment at the onset of the week. Overlaying this with a slight improvement in overall risk sentiments and some stability for the USD-CNH should see USD-Asia on a softer footing," OCBC commented in another reported.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index edged tad 0.34 percent higher to 6,415.50 by 05:05GMT.