* Market focus was on a 600 billion yen ($7.3 billion) 30-year JGB auction at 10:30 JST (0130 GMT), with participants eyeing the sale to confirm investor demand for government debt, which has recently enjoyed safe-haven status amid tensions in the Middle East and North Africa.

* The Ministry of Finance will likely raise the coupon by 20 basis points to 2.2 percent, the 30 years' relative cheapness on the yield curve and demand by life insurers trying to fill up their books before the end of the fiscal year this month are expected to support the auction, market players said.

* "The superlongs usually attract steady demand from real money investors who tend to level out their purchases, so a relatively smooth auction is expected," said RuiXue Xu, a rates strategist at RBS Securities.

* The five-year auction on Thursday is likely to draw more attention as the market will be able to see how strong demand from banks, the main players in the midterm zone, will be towards the fiscal year end, she said.

* The 10-year/30-year yield spread rose above 94 basis points this week to its highest since late January.

* The benchmark 10-year yield rose 1.5 basis points to 1.285 percent. March 10-year futures slipped 0.07 point to 139.64, pulling away from a five-week high of 139.89 struck the previous day.