JGBs track US Treasuries lower, shrug off jump in virus cases

• Benchmark 10-year JGB futures dropped 0.06 point to 152.55, with trading volume of 27,637 lots by late-afternoon trade.
• The 10-year cash JGB yield rose one basis point to minus 0.035pc.
• The 20-year and the 30-year yields also gained one basis point each to 0.255pc and 0.385pc, respectively.

TOKYO: Japanese government bond (JGB) prices tracked losses in US Treasury bonds lower on Thursday, shrugging off a fall in risk assets in response to a sharp rise in number of coronavirus cases.

Benchmark 10-year JGB futures dropped 0.06 point to 152.55, with trading volume of 27,637 lots by late-afternoon trade.

The 10-year cash JGB yield rose one basis point to minus 0.035pc.

The 20-year and the 30-year yields also gained one basis point each to 0.255pc and 0.385pc, respectively, while and the 40-year yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.415pc.

US Treasury yields rose on Wednesday amid renewed risk tolerance after a reported drop in the number of new coronavirus cases in China on Wednesday alleviated some concerns about economic growth.

However, the optimism took a hit in Asia after China's Hubei province, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported a record rise in the death toll after it adopted a new method for diagnosis.

At the shorter end of the market, the two-year JGB yield stood flat at minus 0.155pc, while the five-year yield rose one basis point to minus 0.130pc.