Aussie bonds firm modestly on China GDP January 20, 2014 - 4:39PM Australian bond futures prices are marginally firmer as investors offer a subdued reaction to Chinese economic growth data. The economy of Australia's largest trading partner grew by 7.7 per cent during 2013, which was marginally above market expectations of 7.6 per cent. While the figure was the same as for 2012, which was the slowest pace since 1999, Commonwealth Bank interest rate strategist Philip Brown said the figure did little to move the local bond market. "Sometimes the Australian market gets very excited by the Chinese data, sometimes it doesn't," he said, adding figures from China's National Bureau of Statistics were mainly in line with expectations. The Chinese data caused a little bit of a twiddle up and down but much. The local bond market had started the session firmer after US Treasuries rallied on official data showing American housing starts fell by 9.8 per cent in December from an unusually high level in November.