Japanese government bond prices fell marginally on Thursday, extending declines on receding expectations of a near-term central bank policy easing and bullish signs from global equity markets.
As Japan's Nikkei joined global markets in celebrating a possible Sino-US trade truce early in 2020 in markets already awash with cheap cash, bond futures fell and yields rose across the curve.
The two-year JGB yield was flat at minus 0.11%, just off the 16-month high of minus 0.095% it hit on Tuesday, before the Christmas holiday.
"Foreign investors arent't back to the market from their holidays and domestic investors may use their cash to buy stocks at the year-end," a markets strategist in Tokyo said.
"That means the trend isn't clear yet," he said, adding he'd be wary of a typical risk-off mood emerging at the beginning of the year.
Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.05 point to 152.06, with a trading volume of 8,571 lots.
At the longer end, 10-year JGB yields rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.015%, while the 20-year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.305%.
JGB yields have been gradually rising in recent months on signs the global economy is bottoming out and hopes Washington and Beijing will sign a trade deal soon.
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