TOKYO: Japanese government bonds edged down for a second day on Thursday, tracking US debt prices lower and also pressured by profit-taking ahead of the approaching end of the quarter.
With share prices falling 13 percent compared to the end of the March quarter, investors may need to take profits in their bond holdings at the end of the current April-June period to a greater extent than usual, strategists at Barclays said.
"Quarterly JGB redemptions mean some investors have more cash on hand, but that doesn't necessarily lead to more buying, and in fact some are selling to take profits, hoping to buy back at better levels," said a fixed-income fund manager at a Japanese asset management firm.
A slightly weaker tone in US Treasuries also added to pressure on bonds. The yield on benchmark 10-year notes stood at 1.64 percent, steady from levels in late US trade, where it edged up after the US Federal Reserve failed to signal a third round of quantitative easing.
But longer-term Treasuries were bolstered by central bank's decision to expand its "Operation Twist" stimulus programme, under which it sells short-term securities to buy longer-dated ones, to push down longer-term rates.
The 10-year JGB yield added 1.5 basis points to 0.835 percent, moving away from its nine-year low of 0.790 percent hit on June 4.
The 10-year JGB futures contract for September ended morning trade down 0.07 point at 143.67.
The 20-year yield rose 2 basis points to 1.675 percent while the 30-year bond was untraded.
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