JGBs trade sideways ahead of January national CPI, BoJ member Funo’s speech eyed

Japanese government bonds traded sideways Tuesday as investors await the Bank of Japan’s policymaker Funo’s speech, scheduled to be held on February 21 by 01:10GMT, besides, the country’s national consumer price inflation (CPI), due on the following data by 23:30GMT for added direction in the debt market     .

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, hovered around 0.06 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year note remained flat at 0.79 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year also steadied at -0.15 percent by 04:30 GMT.

Japan's core consumer-price index is expected to show a 0.8 percent rise in January from a year earlier, down from the 0.9 percent increase seen in December, WSJ reported.

Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) data showed on Monday that exports grew 12.2 percent in January from a year earlier, following a 9.3 percent year-on-year gain in the previous month. The result handily beat a 10.3 percent increase expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

Exports to China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, jumped 30.8 percent year-on-year in January, due in part to an export surge before the Lunar New Year that happened later than last year. The gain was led by semiconductor production equipment, car engines and hybrid cars.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index 1 percent lower at 21,946.00 by 04:35 GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained neutral at 26.44 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

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