South Korean Treasury yields fell across the board today (the 30th).

The decline was driven by deepening global risk-aversion, triggered by a sharp drop in U.S. stock markets overnight, led by technology shares.

Throughout October, Treasury yields followed a downward trend.

The yield on 10-year bonds dropped by about 40 basis points (1bp = 0.01 percentage point), reaching its lowest level since last May.

Over the same period, the 3-year yield fell by about 30bp, and the ultra-long 30-year yield also declined by more than 40bp.

In the Seoul bond market today, the yield on 3-year Treasury bonds closed down 5.1bp from the previous trading session at 3.715 percent per annum.

The 10-year yield fell 7.3bp to 4.008 percent.

The 5-year and 2-year yields dropped 5.8bp and 3.4bp, respectively, finishing at 3.865 percent and 3.705 percent.

The 20-year yield declined 6.5bp to 4.106 percent.

The 30-year and 50-year yields fell 8.8bp and 9.1bp, respectively, recording 4.124 percent and 4.149 percent.

The 3-year treasury futures rose 17 ticks from the previous day to close at 103.50, while the 10-year treasury futures gained 59 ticks to finish at 108.04.

Foreign investors net sold 837 contracts of 3-year futures and 1,215 contracts of 10-year futures today.

Recently, South Korean Treasury yields have been heavily influenced by domestic and international stock market sentiment.

Overnight, Google parent Alphabet's third-quarter earnings fell short of market expectations, severely denting investment sentiment toward artificial intelligence (AI).

The Kospi index also closed down about 3.5 percent at 5,730.74 today.

As risk-averse sentiment strengthened, yields on safe-haven U.S. Treasuries declined.

Overnight, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries fell by nearly 8bp, and yields on short-term maturities of 3 years or less dropped by around 10bp.

In Asian markets today, bond yields in major countries continued their downward trend.

The 10-year government bond yields of Australia and Japan both fell by about 6bp, and the U.S. 10-year yield saw an additional decline of around 2bp.

The Bank of Japan (BOJ) held a monetary policy meeting today and decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.25 percent.

One of the nine board members cast a dissenting vote in favor of a 25bp rate hike.

(Photo provided by Korea Financial Investment Association, Yonhap News)