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Australian bonds end featureless day firmer

SYDNEY: Australian bonds finished the week on a lacklustre note, spending the afternoon session held in tight ranges trading low volumes.

Bonds opened around their previous closes, their lows for the day, before edging higher through the morning. The afternoon saw bonds drifting near their highs for the day, as the market waited on US inflation data later today.

"It was again a rather featureless day with the absence of any significant data to kick the market in either direction," one trader said.

Traders said one reason for the limited activity ahead of the inflation data was that the market squared up before Easter and the US payrolls so there were no large positions open.

After the US data tonight, next Friday's March imports data and the Reserve Bank's quarterly report on the economy in its April Bulletin will be the focus of local markets.

Economists expect a flat result for imports.

The Following week sees first quarter inflation and wages data released. Economists expect moderate increases in inflation, with the key underlying rate expected to have peaked in annual terms in the quarter.-Reuter