Longer-tenor South Korean treasury prices reversed early falls to close up on Friday, with the central bank's rate increase viewed as clearing market uncertainties. The Bank of Korea raised interest rates for the first time since the outbreak of the financial crisis and cemented market expectations of more tightening by predicting solid growth and higher inflation ahead.
The decision sent treasury bond futures sharply lower in a knee-jerk reaction before they ended flat, and pushed the won to a two-week high. Short-dated debt also dropped, with one-year interest rate swaps soaring to their highest in more than three months, narrowing spread between the two yields to 55 basis points from 68 basis points on Thursday.
The front end treasury futures September contract ended flat at 110.28, after sliding to as low as 109.90 briefly after the rate decision. Short-covering set in following a rebound in two-year monetary stabilisation bonds and after three-year government bonds wiped out early losses. The 10-year Treasury bond yield slipped 2 basis points to 4.94 percent, and the 20-year treasury yield inched down 1 basis point to 5.14 percent.
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