Japanese govt bonds steady, supported by BOJ buying operations

[TOKYO] Japanese government bonds were mostly steady on Thursday, while Bank of Japan buying helped push the yield on the 30-year JGB down to touch its lowest level in nearly three months.

The BOJ offered to buy 375 billion yen (S$4.14 billion) of JGBs in the 1-year to 3-year zone, 425 billion yen of JGBs in the 3-year to 5-year zone, 240 billion yen of JGBs in the 10-year to 25-year zone, and 140 billion yen in the over 25-year zone under its asset purchase programme.

The benchmark 10-year JGB yield was flat at 0.410 per cent, while the 5-year yield inched up half a basis point to 0.100 per cent.

But the 30-year yield edged down half a basis point to 1.390 per cent, after earlier falling as low as 1.385 per cent, its lowest since May 1.

The 10-year JGB futures price ended down 0.06 point at 147.45.

REUTERS