Aust bonds mixed amid US uncertainty October 10, 2013 - 9:15AM Australian bond futures prices are mixed amid continuing uncertainty over the US political stalemate. The Australian bond market has been trading in a narrow range as investors wait for more details about the US government shutdown and the debt ceiling negotiations, Nomura head of macro products Jon Linton said. The local market would turn its attention to domestic news on Thursday with the release of labour force data, Mr Linton said. "The focus today is very clearly on the unemployment data and I think that will set the tone domestically," he said. But the big picture is going to be dictated by what's going on in the US with the shutdown, the budget debate, the debt ceiling. Until that is resolved, the global picture for bond markets is very, very unclear, so people are being very conservative and positions are very light until they get greater clarity. Consequently we've got fairly range-bound and volatile markets. At 0830 AEDT on Thursday, the December 10-year bond futures contract was trading at 95.965 (implying a yield of 4.035 per cent), up from 95.955 (4.045 per cent) on Wednesday. The December three-year bond futures contract was at 96.920 (3.080 per cent), down from 96.930 (3.070 per cent).