JGB yields dip as investors digest US strikes on Iran
- The five-year yield fell 0.5 bps to 1.93%, reversing an earlier 0.5 bps rise to 1.940%
TOKYO: Japanese government bond (JGB) yields edged lower on Thursday, reversing earlier gains, after US forces confirmed the completion of overnight strikes on multiple targets in Iran, easing some market concerns.
Here are a few details:
The benchmark 10-year JGB yield fell 0.5 basis points (bps) to 2.675%, after briefly rising 1 bp earlier to 2.690% earlier in the session.
The five-year yield fell 0.5 bps to 1.93%, reversing an earlier 0.5 bps rise to 1.940%.
Yields move inversely to bond prices. Market sentiment improved after the US military’s Central Command announced that its strikes in Iran had concluded.
This development helped calm investor nerves, according to Takahiro Otsuka, senior bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan said Governor Kazuo Ueda has been hospitalised for medical treatment and will miss the June 15-16 policy meeting.
While analysts expect a highly anticipated rate hike to proceed as planned next week, Ueda’s absence has raised concerns on how the central bank will communicate its future policy outlook.
“There is some concern over what message the BOJ will send at its June meeting without the governor, and the implications this could have for its communication with markets,” Keisuke Tsuruta, a senior bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, said in a note.
Overnight, US consumer inflation in May accelerated at its fastest pace in three years, boosted by surging prices for energy products amid the Middle East conflict, and giving more ammunition for the US Federal Reserve to keep interest rates unchanged into 2027.
US Treasury yields also ended higher on Wednesday on rising US-Iran tensions.
At the long end, Japan’s 30-year yield rose 1 bp to 3.860%.
The Ministry of Finance sold about 600 billion yen ($3.74 billion) of 30-year JGBs on Wednesday.
The auction’s bid-to-cover ratio, a measure of demand, declined to the lowest in a year.
The 20-year JGB yield climbed 1 bp to 3.565%. ‑Reuters