JGBs close higher as investors await March trade balance, February industrial production data

The Japanese government bonds closed higher Tuesday ahead of the country’s trade balance data for the month of March and industrial production data for the month of February, scheduled to be released today and on April 17 by 23:50GMT and 04:30GMT respectively.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, jumped 7 basis points to -0.023 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year surged 2-1/2 basis points to 0.545 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year plunged 16 basis points to -0.159 percent by 07:00GMT.

Tuesday’s JPY1 trillion ($8.93 billion) 20-year JGB auction drew strong demand as investors were seen to be adding to their inventories as it still offers a yield above zero when the 10-year yield has languished in negative territory. The bid-to-cover ratio, a gauge of demand, rose to 5.10 from 4.84 at the previous sale in March, Reuters reported.

U.S. long-dated Treasury yields slipped from four-week highs on Monday, ahead of U.S. data that will give some guidance on whether the world’s largest economy could slip into recession in the near future, the report added.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index closed 0.24 percent higher at 22,221.66, while at 07:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained neutral at -35.31 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex