South Korean government bond prices jumped on Friday on hopes of more drastic government action over the weekend to tackle financial turmoil, including a possible rate cut. The nation's finance minister said on Friday that the authorities planned to announce Sunday "preemptive, decisive, and sufficient" measures aimed at stabilising local financial markets as local shares and the won currency suffered their worst week in a decade.
The yield on benchmark 5-year treasury bonds fell 22 basis points to 5.08 percent while December treasury bond futures soared 70 ticks to 108.16. Prices of the country's two main 91-day debt instruments, however, declined further as investors shunned riskier non-government bonds amid persistent credit woes.