Yield on 10-year JGB falls after BoJ again purchases JPY400 bln of 5-10 year maturity bonds

Japanese benchmark 10-year JGB yield declined on the last trading day on Friday after the Bank of Japan bought bonds in its scheduled market operation. However, long-term bond yields still remain higher following the central bank’s policy tweak on Tuesday.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, fell 1 basis point to 0.112 percent, and the yield on short-term 2-year also moved 1 basis point lower to -0.107 percent, while the yield on the long-term 30-year note rose 1-1/2 basis points to 0.847 percent by 05:30 GMT.

The BoJ bought 400 billion yen of bonds with 5-10 year of maturity, 180 billion yen of 10-25 year and 60 billion yen of bonds having maturity over 25 years. This is just after the central bank surprised markets with unscheduled buying of 5-10 year JGBs in Thursday worth 400 billion yen.

On the other hand, Nikkei in its latest report, the headline index from the survey - the seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index - edged fractionally lower in July to 51.3, from 51.4 in June, signaling a broadly similar pace of output growth to that seen in the prior survey period. July data stretches the current expansionary sequence into the twenty-second month.  

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index traded flat at 22,511.50 by 05:30 GMT, while at 05:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained neutral at 5.91 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyinde