JGBs narrowly mixed ahead of December national core CPI, November industrial production

The Japanese government bonds remained narrowly mixed Thursday amid a quiet session ahead of the country’s national consumer price inflation (CPI) data for the month of December and industrial production for November, scheduled to be released today by 23:50GMT and January 18 by 04:30GMT respectively.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, rose 1/2 basis point to 0.006 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year note hovered around 0.701 percent while the yield on short-term 2-year slumped nearly 17 basis points to -0.167 percent by 05:30GMT.

Overnight’s key developments included UK PM May surviving a no-confidence vote and opening cross-party talks, US House Speaker Nance Pelosi requesting president Trump to delay his State of the Union speech, and Fed’s Beige Book flagging that labor markets were tight and firms were struggling to find workers at any skill level, albeit growth has slowed, particularly in the auto, energy and no-financial sectors, and contacts had become less optimistic in response to increased financial market volatility, rising short-term interest rates, falling energy prices and elevated trade and political uncertainty, OCBC Treasury Research reported in its Daily Treasury Outlook today.

"Expect markets to attempt to remain top heavy on the EUR-USD (key junction at the 55-day MA (1.1384), flat to lower on the AUD-USD with 55-day MA (0.7188) to limit (despite an apparent improvement in risk appetite levels), while continuing to bounce dips in the USD-JPY within 108.50-109.50," OCBC Treasury Research commented in its Daily Market Outlook. 

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index traded 0.25 percent lower at 20,392.50 by 05:35GMT, while at 05:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained neutral at 20.67 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex