JGBs remain flat at close ahead of July national CPI, August manufacturing PMI

The Japanese government bonds closed flat Wednesday as investors keep a close eye on the country’s national consumer price inflation (CPI) for the month of July, scheduled to be released on August 22 by 23:30GMT and the August manufacturing PMI, due early on the same day for further direction in the debt market.

At close, the yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, slumped 9 basis points to -0.238 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year suffered 1-1/2 basis points to 0.181 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year plunged 16 basis points to -0.299 percent.

"Ahead of Jackson Hole, headline risks starting from Friday, Sino-US tensions remain near a boil with late Tuesday comments from US Secretary of State Pompeo on Huawei. Overall, EUR-USD expected to remain top heavy while GBP-USD may base build while it can (with EUR-GBP seen top heavy). Risk appetite levels we think remain fragile with USD-JPY looking suppressed again and the AUD-USD dead in the water," OCBC Treasury Research reported.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index closed tad -0.28 percent down at 20,618.57.