TREASURIES-Longer-dated Treasury yields rise on strong jobs openings

By Tatiana Bautzer

NEW YORK, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Longer-dated U.S. Treasury yields rose on Tuesday after labor market data showed faster than expected job creation, but demand kept high as investors seeking safe haven from geopolitical uncertainty in Asia bought Treasuries.

U.S. job openings increased moderately in October while layoffs declined, suggesting the labor market continued to slow in an orderly fashion.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, had risen 372,000 to 7.744 million by the last day of October, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Tuesday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 7.475 million vacancies. Layoffs decreased 169,000 to 1.633 million.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note rose 1.1 basis points to 4.205%. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, fell 2.1 basis points to 4.177%.

A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of economic expectations, was at a positive 2.6 basis points.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law for the first time since 1980 in a surprise late-night TV address, slamming domestic political opponents and sending shockwaves through the country.

Yoon said opposition parties had taken the parliamentary process hostage. He vowed to eradicate "shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces" and said he had no choice but to take the measure to safeguard constitutional order.

Yonhap news agency cited the military as saying activities by parliament and political parties would be banned, and that media and publishers would be under the control of the martial law command. The South Korean won tumbled to a two-year low as investors fled from the currency and assets linked to the country.

"Yields went up a couple of basis points after the JOLTS report, but markets do not think a higher job creation number changes the Fed's view as expressed by governor Waller on Monday", said Angelo Manolatos, macro strategist at Wells Fargo. "There was also some buying at the front-end by investors fleeing uncertainty", Manolatos added.

Lou Brien, strategist at DRW Trading in Chicago, also noted the safe haven effect. "There might have been a little bit of a bid in Treasuries, sort of a safety play there, because it looks like people are getting out of South Korean ETFs."

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer, Editing by Nick Zieminski)