JGB yields rise after BOJ reduces debt purchases

TOKYO: Yields on Japanese government bonds rose on Thursday after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said it will reduce the amount and frequency at which it buys debt, reflecting monetary policy changes made last month.

The BOJ's buying of conventional JGBs will fall by about 9% to 5.9 trillion yen ($53.32 billion) in April from 6.45 trillion yen in March, the central bank said in a statement on Wednesday.

At its previous policy meeting in March the BOJ decided to slightly widen the trading band for long-term bonds as part of a review of its quantitative easing framework.

Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.14 point to 151.02, with a trading volume of 21,748 lots.

The 10-year JGB yield rose 1 basis point to 0.100%. The 20-year JGB yield rose 2 basis points to 0.495%.

At the long end of the yield curve, the 30-year JGB yield rose 2.5 basis points to 0.690%.

The 40-year JGB yield rose 2.5 basis points to 0.735%.

The five-year yield rose 1 basis point to minus 0.085%.

At the short end, the two-year JGB yield was unchanged at minus 0.130%.