Australian bonds surge in silent trade ahead of RBA Governor Lowe’s speech

Australian government bonds surged during Asian session Wednesday amid a muted trading session that witnessed data of little economic significance ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s Governor Philip Lowe’s speech, scheduled to be held on July 25 by 03:05GMT.

The yield on Australia’s benchmark 10-year note, which moves inversely to its price, slumped 2 basis points to 1.294 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year bond suffered 1 basis point to 1.933 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year plunged nearly 3-1/2 basis points to 0.914 percent by 04:50GMT.

Although the IMF again slashed its global growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point each to 3.2 percent for 2019 (the weakest since 2009) and 3.5 percent in 2020 citing policy “missteps” on trade and Brexit, nevertheless market attention appears to be focused on news that US trade negotiators including Trade Representative Lighthizer will head to Beijing next week for face-to-face talks for the first time since negotiations stalled in May, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

"Asian markets may trade with a slightly firmer tone this morning on renewed hopes of US-China trade talks restarting in person next week," the report added.

Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 index remained tad 0.21 percent higher at 6,704.50 by 04:55GMT.