JGBs close nearly flat ahead of March household spending data, BoJ’s Summary of Opinions

The Japanese government bonds closed nearly flat Wednesday ahead of the country’s household spending data for the month of March and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) Summary of Opinions, both scheduled to be released on May 9 by 23:30GMT respectively.

At close, the yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB note, which moves inversely to its price, slipped slightly to -0.052 percent, the yield on the long-term 30-year edged 1/2 basis point lower to 0.536 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded 2 basis points lower at -0.156 percent.

Global risk appetite remained in the doldrums with the impending prospects that the Trump administration will carry out its threat to lift tariffs to 25 percent for USD200 billion of Chinese imports on Friday and that China will also retaliate, OCBC Treasury Research reported.

USD was higher as Wall Street continued to slide overnight, with tech and retail stocks leading the slump and knocking more than 90 percent of the S&P500 stocks lower, while the UST bond curve bull flattened as the 10-year UST bond yield retreated to 2.45 percent, the report added.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 index closed -1.48 percent lower at 21,579.00, while at 06:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly JPY Strength Index remained neutral at 42.74 (a reading above +75 indicates a bullish trend, while that below -75 a bearish trend). For more details, visit http://www.fxwirepro.com/currencyindex