JGBs trade narrowly mixed on BoJ’s timid bond-buying

Japanese government bonds traded narrowly mixed on Friday after the BOJ bought fewer bonds than in a previous operation.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, traded flat at 0.045 percent, the yield on long-term 40-year rose nearly 1 basis point to 0.984 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year declined 1/2 basis point to -0.192 percent by 03:00 GMT.

The Bank of Japan on Friday trimmed the amount of short-term Japanese government bonds (JGBs) it offered to buy at its regular debt-purchasing operation. The central bank offered to buy 250 billion yen ($2.22 billion) of one- to three-year JGBs, down from 280 billion yen at the previous operation. The BOJ left the amount of JGBs it offered to buy in the other maturities unchanged.

Overnight, the U.S. Treasuries saw downward pressure across the curve on Thursday, showing little overall reaction to weaker than expected initial jobless claims and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing releases. Aside from economic data, the marquee event of the session was the passage of the House of Representative's version of US tax reform, setting up greater focus on the Senate's version of the bill which is expected to be voted on in early December.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 traded 0.06 percent higher at 22,364.00 by 04:10 GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained highly bullish at 117.48 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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