Aust bonds weaker on Bernanke comments Australian bond futures prices spent the local session trading lower after comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke fuelled expectations key stimulus measures in the world's largest economy would be wound back. But local futures prices had recovered most of the lost ground by the end of the session, thanks to disappointing Chinese manufacturing figures. He indicated there could be a winding down of the Fed's $US85-billion-a-month bond-buying program at one of its "next few meetings" if the economy continued to improve. ANZ interest rate strategist Zoe McHugh Dr Bernanke's comments caused a selloff in bonds. "What is did was confirm for the market that the US economy was on track," she said. But market sentiment took a hit after a HSBC survey showed that manufacturing activity in China declined in May, which saw prices rise again. "Since then the market has really rallied back to be close to where it was yesterday afternoon," Ms McHugh said.