Japanese bonds trade narrowly mixed in subdued trade; Kuroda’s speech in focus

Japanese bonds traded narrowly mixed Thursday following weak results from the Bank of Japan’s bond buying operation and rising U.S. Treasury yields. Also, investors remained sidelined in any major trading activity amid lack of significant economic data.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, hovered around 0.06 percent, the yield on long-term 30-year tad lower at 0.89 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded flat at -0.13 percent by 06:30 GMT.

Gains in U.S. bonds following tame U.S. inflation data on Friday initially lifted Japanese bond prices, but the gains largely disappeared after the Bank of Japan’s bond-buying operations on Monday drew larger selling than the previous time.

According to Reuters, At the Ministry of Finance's sale of 2.2 trillion yen of five-year JGBs with a 0.10 percent coupon, 88.7951 percent of the bids were accepted at the lowest price of 100.90. The sale drew bids of 4.24 times the amount offered, up from the previous sale's bid-to-cover ratio of 4.07 times, indicating stronger demand. Rising U.S. Treasury yields kept upward pressure on their Japanese counterparts, which was reflected mainly in super-long JGBs.

Looking ahead, the market will now focus on the upcoming BoJ Governor Kuroda speech scheduled to be held Friday at 06:35 GMT.

Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.50 percent to 21,469 by 06:30GMT, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Yen Strength Index remained slightly bearish at -61.97 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex

FxWirePro launches Absolute Return Managed Program. For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/invest