JGBs close higher ahead of May trade balance data, BoJ’s monetary policy decision

The Japanese government bonds ended higher on Monday as investors wait to watch the country’s trade balance data for the month of May, scheduled to be released on June 18 by 23:50GMT and the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) monetary policy meeting, due to be held on June 20, which shall provide further direction to the debt market.

At close, the yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, slumped 12-1/2 basis points to -0.124 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year slightly slipped to 0.370 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year remained flat at -0.197 percent.

Shorter-dated Japanese government bond prices also tracked footprints of losses in the United States’ counterpart, while overall sentiments among investors remained dull ahead of key policy meetings this week

However, short-term U.S. Treasury yields gained on Friday last week following solid economic data that cooled market fears of a rapid and sudden economic slowdown in the second quarter of this year, further dimming expectations of a Fed rate cut this week.

Lastly, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is not expected to adopt any policy change at its June 19–20 meeting, amid growing pressure for the central bank to cut its policy rate, according to a recent report from ANZ Research.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index closed flat at 21,124.00, while at 06:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained neutral at 48.10 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex