JGB 10-year yield falls to 7-week low tracking U.S. Treasuries on worries over global economic slowdown

The Japanese 10-year government bond yield fell to 7-week low at the time of close Friday tracking a similar movement in the United States Treasuries as investor sentiments remained dusted on worries over global economic slowdown amid ongoing trade tussle between the U.S. and China.

At close, the yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, plunged 7 basis points to -0.069 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year slipped 1-1/2 basis points to 0.500 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year slumped 15-1/2 basis points to -0.155 percent.

Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) offered to sell JPY400 billion ($3.65 billion) of off-the-run JGBs with remaining maturities of one year to five years. The ministry regularly conducts such sales in an attempt to provide the market with liquidity, Reuters reported.

Asian markets are likely to take another step back today as investors reassess their market positioning amid the potentially protracted US-China trade war as the US administration is supposedly considering putting more Chinese companies on the blacklist as Huawei. President Trump had hinted that “it’s possible that Huawei even would be included in some kind of a trade deal”, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index closed -0.16 percent lower at 21,117.22, while at 06:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained slightly bullish at 95.98 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex