JGB super-long yields edge lower, all eyes on BOJ meeting

TOKYO: Yields on super-long dated Japanese government bonds edged lower on Friday as traders awaited the Bank of Japan's (BOJ's) meeting next week, where the central bank will review its monetary policy framework.

The BOJ may exempt more funds from negative interest rates and reveal ways to make its purchases of exchange-traded funds more flexible when it ends a two-day meeting on March 19.

However, speculation that the BOJ will not widen the trading band for bond yields has caused the long end of the yield curve to fall slightly, dealers said.

Benchmark 10-year JGB futures rose 0.02 point to 151.29, with a trading volume of 6,831 lots.

The 10-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to 0.105%.

At the long end, the 20-year JGB yield fell 1.5 basis points to 0.465%. The 30-year JGB yield fell 2 basis points to 0.630%, and the 40-year JGB yield fell 2.5 basis points to 0.665%.

At the middle of the curve, the five-year yield was flat at minus 0.080%.

At the short end, the two-year JGB yield was unchanged at minus 0.125%.