JGBs close nearly flat amid silent session ahead of BoJ’s monetary policy decision

The Japanese government bonds closed nearly flat Tuesday amid a silent trading session that witnessed data of little economic significance ahead of the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) monetary policy meeting, scheduled to be held on April 25, which shall provide detailed direction to the debt market.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, hovered around -0.029 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year slipped 1/2 basis point to 0.575 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year remained flat at -0.149 percent by 06:35GMT.

Global risk sentiments may be lifted today after overnight gains in US equity markets as crude oil prices which hit six-month highs after the White House surprisingly announced it will scrap sanction waivers for the purchase of Iranian crude, albeit both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said they are ready to offset any drop in output, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

Sri Lanka has declared a state of emergency from midnight yesterday. That said, after China’s equity market’s underperformance yesterday on market speculation of less policy accommodation ahead, Asian markets like Hong Kong that re-open today may be off to a soft start, the report added.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index closed tad higher at 22,259.74, while at 06:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained neutral at 59.99 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex