JGB yields fly at close as investors shy away from safe-haven assets in run-up to G-20 Summit

The Japanese government bond yields close on a higher note Thursday as investors continued to stay away from safe-haven instruments in the run-up to the G-20 Summit starting Friday, where the United States and China are expected to strike a chord on the long-pending trade agreement.

At close, the yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, jumped 7 basis points to -0.140 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year edged 2 basis points higher to 0.390 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year surged 5 basis points to -0.210 percent.

According to a report from Reuters, citing the South China Morning Post, Washington and Beijing have agreed to a tentative truce in their trade dispute ahead of the G20 summit, which geared up stock markets in Asia as well.

With this, Japan’s 2-year JPY2 trillion bond auction, held early today, failed to attract much attention, as the bid-to-cover ratio, fell to 4.39 from 5.44 at the previous auction held in May.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index closed 1.06 percent higher at 21,310.50, while at 06:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained slightly bearish at -96.33 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex