Aust bonds weaker ahead of US data US markets hit by growth concern and end of month trading. AUSTRALIAN bond futures prices are lower ahead of the release of key US employment data. RBC Capital Markets interest rate strategist Michael Turner said the selloff in local bond futures prices on Thursday night was surprising. He had expected the market to trade cautiously in the lead-up to the release of US non-farm payrolls figures for January on Friday night (AEDT), especially in light of a recent fall in bond prices. "It's probably a bit surprising in the context of payrolls tonight," he said. You'd expect that maybe, given we've sold off pretty sharply over the past couple of weeks, we might have seen a bit of squaring up heading into payrolls. Mr Turner said bond futures may strengthen during Friday's local session, ahead of the release of the payrolls figures. "Maybe that will happen later this afternoon, but it has not happened so far this morning," he said. At 0830 AEDT on Thursday, the March 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 96.530 (implying a yield of 3.470 per cent), down from Thursday's local close of 96.570 (3.430 per cent). The March three-year bond futures contract was at 97.140 (2.860 per cent), down from 97.190 (2.810 per cent).