TOKYO: Treasury prices were steady in Asia on Thursday, taking a breather after benchmark yields briefly broke below key resistance at 1.8 percent overnight as investors awaited the latest developments in Europe as well as a 30-year bond offering.
The Treasury will auction $16 billion of 30-year bonds later on Thursday to complete its $72 billion of debt sales this week under its quarterly refunding.
"Supply this week is getting absorbed without much change in yields either way, because European debt concerns are a much bigger factor than supply and demand conditions, and they're keeping yields from rising much," said a fixed-income fund manager at a Japanese asset management firm.
A sale of 10-year notes on Wednesday fetched a record auction-low yield of 1.855 percent, as investors sought the safety of US government debt, though the bid-to-cover ratio was the lowest since November.
A sale of $32 billion in three-year notes on Tuesday marked the second highest ever bid-to-cover ratio.
Greece continues to face a political stalemate which throws the future of austerity steps into doubt, but the country appeared to have averted an imminent funding crisis after the board of the European Financial Stability Facility agreed to a scheduled 5.2 billion euro ($6.72 billion) payment.
Adding to fears about Europe's debt situation, Spain took over Bankia, the country's fourth-biggest lender, on Wednesday.
Chinese trade data also contributed to market apprehension of a growth slowdown.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries stood at 1.86 percent, up from 1.83 percent in both late US trade and Asian trading on Wednesday, when it briefly broke through resistance at 1.80 percent to its lowest level since January.
The 30-year bond yield was at 3.03 percent, matching its level in late US trading and compared to 3.02 percent in Asia on Wednesday.
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