Government bond yields steady as search for fresh cues persists

The government bond yields ended almost unchanged on Thursday due to a lack of fresh triggers, while traders awaited fresh supply through the weekly debt auction on Friday for further cues.

The 10-year benchmark bond yield ended at 7.2208 per cent after closing at 7.2156 per cent in the previous session.

The country aims to raise 340 billion rupees ($4.09 billion) through the bond auction on Friday, which includes 120 billion rupees worth of 50-year notes.

Amid a lack of strong directional cues, the local yields will continue to monitor global factors such as the movement in US yields and oil prices, traders said.

The US yields rose in intraday trade on Wednesday, with the 10-year yield briefly inching above 4 per cent before ending lower as investors digested data and the minutes of the Federal Reserve's December meeting.

The Federal Reserve officials raised fresh concerns about how long the US economy could hold up under current high interest rates, according to the minutes.

Even as markets expect the Federal Reserve to cut rates in March, the probability has eased to 70 per cent from around 90 per cent last week, according to the CME Fedwatch tool.

"While markets are expecting the Federal Reserve to start cutting from March 24, which itself is an uncertainty, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might not be in a hurry to follow suit," said Anitha Rangan, an economist at Equirus Group.

The impact of an easing in global rates on domestic rates has anyway been obstructed by tight liquidity, she added.

The RBI has kept its key interest rate steady at 6.5 per cent in its December meeting and its monetary policy committee said it will remain vigilant of inflation risks, with the overall outlook remaining clouded by volatile and uncertain food prices.

Investors will now eye the December non-farm payroll data, due after Indian market hours on Friday, for further cues.

(With Reuters Inputs)