SINGAPORE: Stocks were headed for their biggest weekly rise in a year on Friday, while bonds rallied and the dollar was on the back foot as investors cheered a pause in US interest rate hikes.Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields are down more than 20 basis points in two sessions since the US Federal Reserve left rates on hold on Wednesday and Chair Jerome Powell said risks to the outlook for rates settings was balanced.
“As logical as that is … Powell did warn that for higher bond yields to forestall another hike, they’d need to stay high, so markets can’t have their proverbial cake and eat it too.” Ten-year gilts had their sharpest rally in more than a month, sending yields almost 12 basis points lower to 4.39%. Ten-year German bund yields also fell on Thursday, though only by 4.6 bps to 2.71%.
The Australian dollar is up 1.5% to US$0.6430 and has broken above its 50-day moving average. The New Zealand dollar is not far behind with a 1.4% gain to US$0.5892.