JGBs flat ahead of BoJ April meeting minutes, Governor Kuroda’s speech

The Japanese government bonds traded flat as investors wait to watch the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) April monetary policy meeting minutes and Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s speech, scheduled to be held on May 2 respectively.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield, which moves inversely to its price, hovered around 0.01 percent, the long-term 30-year bond yields traded flat at 0.79 percent and the yield on the short-term 2-year note also remained steady at -0.20 percent by 07:10 GMT.

The BoJ in its latest monetary policy meeting held last week, voted to keep interest rates at -0.1 percent, where they have stood since the start of 2016. The decision was widely anticipated by the financial markets, which expect the Japanese central bank to maintain its low-rate pledge for the foreseeable future.

The central bank also voted to continue purchasing Japanese government bonds so that the 10-year JGB yield would remain at zero percent. The size of the government bond purchases was kept at JPY80 trillion annually.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.54 percent lower at 19,299.50, while at 07:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Yen Strength Index remained neutral at -39.59 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex