The New Zealand government bonds traded flat Tuesday as investors remained cautious ahead of the GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) price auction, scheduled to be held later in the day.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond, which moves inversely to its price hovered around 3.32 percent at the time of closing, the yield on 7-year note also traded flat at 2.90 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year note traded around 2.19 percent.
"We did have a temporary oil price shock which held down inflation, we had the dollar appreciation which held down inflation. Those have passed through and the trend in inflation is, it's moving up," Reuters reported, citing Mester, during a Q&A session with the audience after her speech at a central banking seminar in Singapore.
Prices in the last GDT auction rose 1.3 percent to USD3,537 following a 0.6 percent gain previously, but prices were still below the level seen at the end of 2016 due to a sharp price fall at the first auction in early January.
Meanwhile, the New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index closed 0.23 percent higher at 7,115.69, while at 05:00 GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly NZD Strength Index remained highly bearish at -144.01 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
