TOKYO: Japanese government bond yields ended unchanged on Friday, giving up an earlier gains as they tracked a rise and the following retreat in benchmark US yields.
Bonds were sold off in early trade, pushing yields higher, after red-hot US inflation data boosted the case for faster Federal Reserve rate hikes and the European Central Bank also took a more hawkish turn.
The 10-year JGB yield rose as high as 0.195% before ending flat at 0.185%.
Equivalent US Treasury yields hit a three-week high overnight, but then retreated in Tokyo trading on Friday.
US consumer prices surged in February by the most in four decades, and inflation is poised to accelerate further as the war in Ukraine drives up the costs of crude oil and other commodities.
Meanwhile, ECB policymakers decided Thursday to stop pumping money into financial markets this summer, paving the way for rate hikes as soaring inflation outweighs concerns about the fallout from the Ukraine crisis.
The Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan all set policy next week.
“After the hawkish surprise at the ECB, the focus will be on what other global central banks do, and if it again raises ideas that tightening elsewhere could force action from the BOJ, we can expect Japanese yields to push higher,” said Katsutoshi Inadome, senior bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
The two-year JGB yield ended flat at minus 0.035%, and the five-year yield was unchanged at 0.015%.
The 20-year JGB yield finished flat at 0.660%, after earlier reaching 0.680% for the first time in two weeks. The 30-year JGB yield was stable at 0.875%.
Benchmark 10-year JGB futures rose 0.05 point to 150.55, with a trading volume of 3,050 lots.
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