There was also caution ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Jan. 29-30 where it is expected to leave interest rates unchanged after raising them four times last year.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will visit the United States on Jan. 30-31 for the next round of trade negotiations with Washington.

Ten-year JGB futures gave up 0.01 point to 152.65, with a trading volume of 14,279 lots in late afternoon trade.

The benchmark cash 10-year JGB yield was flat at minus 0.005 percent.

At the shorter end of the curve, the two-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.165 percent.

The Bank of Japan offered to buy 1 trillion yen ($9.14 billion) of one- to five-year and 10- to 40-year bonds in its regular debt-buying operation on Monday.