Indian government bond yields were little changed on Friday amid a lack of fresh cues, with focus shifting to U.S. and domestic inflation prints due next week.

The benchmark 10-year yield ended at 7.1276%, following its previous close of 7.1321%. The yield fell 2 basis points (bps) this week, after declining 4 bps last week.

Yields have shown a downward bias over the last few days tracking U.S. peers on hopes of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates this year, which were bolstered by weaker-than-expected April nonfarm payrolls data last week.

The 10-year U.S. yield has stayed below 4.50% this week, with traders pricing in the probability of two 25 basis points cuts this year, the first of which is expected in September.

The local and U.S. inflation prints are now expected to provide directional cues.

India's consumer price inflation is likely to have eased to 4.80% in April, just shy of March's rate as food inflation remains sticky, according to a Reuters poll.

The Reserve Bank of India kept the lending rate steady for the seventh consecutive meeting in April as growth was seen staying robust and inflation has remained above its 4% target.

Traders will also watch if the government announces another round of bond buyback as the banking system's liquidity is expected to remain in neutral-to-deficit this month.

"Given that government sought to buy back 400 billion rupees of securities and was able to buy back 105 billion rupees, indicates that we could see more buybacks," said Gaura Sen Gupta, India economist at IDFC FIRST Bank.

Government expenditure has likely been lower than usual, keeping banking liquidity tight as the final budget will only be presented after the election, Sen Gupta added.

The government's cash surplus is likely to increase further with RBI dividend expected this month, which is pegged at 1.2 trillion rupees by ICICI Securities Primary Dealership.

(Reporting by Bhakti Tambe; Editing by Varun H K)