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JGBs trade narrowly mixed as market awaits OPEC decision

The Japanese government bonds traded narrowly Wednesday as investors await the OPEC ministerial decisions, in which oil producing countries are expected to strike an agreement on output cut.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield, which moves inversely to its price, rose ½ basis point to 0.02 percent, the yield on long-term 30-year note climbed 1 basis point to 0.57 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year note slid 1 basis point to -0.15 percent by 06:50 GMT.

Markets will mostly remain quiet next week with little in the way of market-moving news, and with no important data scheduled to be released. Thereby, investors will focus on the outcome of OPEC meeting scheduled to be held later in the day.

The JGBs have been closely following developments in oil markets because of their impact on inflation expectations, which are well below the Bank of Japan's target. Crude oil prices recovered OPEC ministerial gathering in Vienna today. The International benchmark Brent futures rose 1.92 percent to $48.15 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) jumped 0.77 percent to $45.58 by 07:00 GMT.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is meeting officially in Vienna later in the day to discuss a planned production cut in an effort to curb overproduction that has dogged markets and more than halved prices since 2014.

There remains disagreement among OPEC-members over which producers should cut by how much, and a plan for non-OPEC oil giant Russia to participate has so far also failed.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Nikkei 225 closed up 0.01 percent at 18,308.48. While at 06:00 GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Japanese Yen Strength Index remained highly bearish at -118.50 (lower than -75 represents bearish trend).

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