Japanese government bonds were under pressure on Monday ahead of Kazuo Ueda’s first news conference as Bank of Japan governor, and as US bonds slipped on stronger-than-expected jobs data.
The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds held at 0.465%, not far from the 0.5% ceiling.
Ten-year JGB futures fell about 20 ticks to 147.48 and yields on some off-the-run 10-year bonds, such as No. 368 which matures in September 2032, have lately been on the rise in a possible sign that short sellers are circling.
Yields at longer tenors nudged higher, too, with 20-year JGB yields up marginally to 1.062% and 30-year yields about 1.6 bps to 1.326%.
Bond yields rise when prices fall and foreign short sellers have been laying wagers that the BOJ won’t stick to its policy of pinning 10-year yields near zero for much longer, with some eying a change as soon as this month’s policy meeting.
Ueda, whose term as BOJ governor began on Sunday, is due to speak at 1015 GMT with markets on the lookout for any hint of how he plans to shift away from decades of ultra-easy policy.
Ueda in February stressed before parliament the need to keep such settings to ensure Japan sustainably achieves the BOJ’s 2% inflation target backed by wage growth.
“Our house view is that the BOJ will widen the trading band of the 10-year JGBs to 1% at its policy meeting,” Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, though he isn’t expecting to get clues about it.
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“If the BOJ does it, it does it without a prior communications,” he said. US labour data, released on Friday, was stronger-than-expected, driving US yields higher on expectations that the Federal Reserve might deliver one more rate hike.
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