TREASURIES-Steady, Greek debt woes and aid prospects eyed
TOKYO, April 30 |
TOKYO, April 30 (Reuters) - U.S. 10-year Treasuries were little changed on Friday, with market players focusing on whether Greece would secure an aid package and avoid debt default, and the possible implications for risk assets such as equities.
* Investors remained uneasy about the outlook for Greece even as the debt-stricken country took steps to secure aid. Moody's Investors Service could become the second major ratings agency to downgrade Greece's ratings to "junk" status in the next few days, an analyst with the firm said on Thursday. [ID:nN29263464]
* Worries over Greece's debt have been regarded as a supportive factor for safe-haven Treasuries. But it may be hard to expect Treasury yields to keep falling based solely on such concerns, especially since stock markets have shown some resilience, said Yoshio Takahashi, fixed income strategist for Barclays Capital.
* This is especially so given how euro zone countries have recently begun mulling the possibility of a larger aid package than they had previously planned, Takahashi said. "So there is the possibility that additional selling of risky assets may not take place."
* IMF, European Union and European Central Bank officials are in Athens to negotiate the bailout and hope to wrap up a deal within days in an effort to prevent the debt crisis from sinking other fragile EU countries. [ID:nLDE63S0BL]
* German politicians have said the aid package could be worth 100-120 billion euros ($133-160 billion) over three years, against an original plan for 45 billion euros of aid in 2010.
* The 10-year Treasury note dipped about 1/32 in price to yield 3.736 percent US10YT=RR, up about 1 basis point from late U.S. trading on Thursday. Ten-year note futures dipped 1/32 to 117-13/32 TYv1. (Reporting by Masayuki Kitano; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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