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The Japanese government bonds slumped Wednesday following weakness in the U.S. Treasuries, but daily bond operation from the Bank of Japan limited the losses. In addition, investors remained focused on President Donald Trump’s new pick for the Federal Reserve chair.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, rose 1/2 basis points to 0.072 percent, the yield on long-term 30-year climbed 1/2 basis points to 0.875 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year too remained steady at -0.13 percent by 04:20 GMT.
The United States 10-year note yield rose to a 5-1/2-month high above 2.40 percent overnight on a media report which suggested that U.S. Senate Republicans favored Stanford University economist John Taylor, seen as more hawkish relative to other Fed chair candidates.
In the daily market operation, the BoJ offered to buy 880 billion yen of one- to 40-year JGBs.
On Tuesday, Japan’s October manufacturing PMI came in at 52.5, lower than the market expectations of 53.1, down from 52.9 last month. But it held above the 50-mark which differentiate expansion from contraction.
Japanese media said Monday that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and a small coalition partner had together secured at least 312 seats in the 465-seat lower house of parliament, passing the 310-barrier for a two-thirds majority. Four seats remained undecided.
The victory boosts Abe's chances of winning another three-year term next September as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. That could extend his premiership to 2021, giving him more time to try to win a reluctant public over to his long-time goal of revising Japan's pacifist constitution.
The Constitutional Democratic Party, set up only about two weeks ago by former chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano after its predecessor split up, had 54 seats. Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike’s upstart Party of Hope, which briefly jumped in opinion polls last month, won 49 seats.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 0.10 percent to 21,828, while at 03:30GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Yen Strength Index remained neutral at -19.22 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex
