JGBs gain on BoJ bond-buying operation, Fed Chair announcement in focus

Japanese bonds gained Thursday after the Bank of Japan bought more of long-term bonds in its daily market operations. Also, the JGBs follow the development in the U.S. Treasuries market, which rose following the news that President Donald Trump would pick Jerome Powell as the next Federal Reserve Chief.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell 1 basis point to 0.056 percent, the yield on long-term 30-year also slipped 1 basis point to 0.847 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded steady at -0.158 percent by 04:00 GMT.

Today, the BoJ in its daily market operation offered to buy 410 billion yen of JGBs maturing in 5 to 10 years, 200 billion yen of JGBs maturing in ten to twenty-five years, and 100 billion yen over 25 years.

In addition, U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell to the top job at the US central bank, according to four people familiar with the decision. Trump has said he’ll announce his pick Thursday afternoon. In Powell, he’ll select a former private-equity executive who favors continuing gradual interest-rate increases and sympathizes with White House calls to ease financial regulations, Bloomberg reported.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded 0.30 percent higher at 22,487.5 by 04:20, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Yen Strength Index remained slightly bearish at -96.45 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

FxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/inve