US Treasury yields ended lower across the curve, weighed by the declines in stock markets ahead of the US presidential election. On top of that, the Oct non-farm payrolls reported job gains of 161k (decent but below consensus 173k), also pressured the yields on

Market Roundup

• US Treasury yields ended lower across the curve, weighed by the declines in stock markets ahead of the US presidential election. On top of that, the Oct non-farm payrolls reported job gains of 161k (decent but below consensus 173k), also pressured the yields on Friday, in our opinion. Elsewhere, during an IMF conference held in Washington, the Fed vice-chair Stanley Fischer commented that the economy may “to some extent exceed the Fed’s employment and inflation targets”.
• But latest news is that the FBI, in a letter to Congress dated Sunday, has cleared Clinton of further criminal implications in the email case. This should pave way for some risk-taking activity but we still see support for UST in lieu of the election results.
• Malaysian sovereign bonds closed with little changes, but we noted improved bidding interest in general, possibly supported by bargain hunting activity. Aside, Malaysia’s Sep trade numbers released on Friday were disappointing. However, it made little impact on the market, as players were eyeing the US NFP data and outcome of the US presidential election.
• Malaysia’s exports and imports fell by 3.0% yoy and 0.1% respectively in the month of Sep, in contrast to 1.5% and 4.9% yoy expansion registered a month before. The disappointing trade numbers translate into a lower trade surplus amounting to RM7.56 billion, down from RM8.51 billion in Aug.
• Thai government bonds hovered near prior levels amid a lack of fresh catalyst. Meanwhile, daily trading volume remained thin at Bt10.2 billion, marginally higher than Bt10.1 billion registered on Thursday, whilst flows were led by shorter dated papers namely LB21DA, LB206A and LB226A.
• Indonesian government bond market was very quiet amidst Friday's big demonstrations in Jakarta. However the demonstration had no impact on the bond market. Market players remained sidelined ahead of the NFP data and US presidential election.