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Japanese government bonds traded narrowly mixed Wednesday as investors remain sidelined in any big deal ahead of the FOMC monetary policy decision later in the day.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, traded flat at 0.067 percent, the yield on long-term 30-year also slipped nearly 1 basis point to 0.863 percent and the yield on short-term 2-year traded steady at -0.158 percent by 05:20 GMT.
The FOMC will decide on its policy-setting later in the day, today. No change to the 1.00% to 1.25% policy band is expected with Wednesday's announcement 18:00 GMT. The policy statement is expected to reiterate the general outlook of moderate growth and subdued inflation, though there could be an upgrade on the economy given the swath of better than expected data, and the report of 3% growth in Q3.
However, the FOMC will also acknowledge the disruptive effects of the various natural disasters. There won't be any fresh signals for the December meeting (there is no press conference nor any updates to the quarterly projections), which will leave intact widespread expectations for 25 basis points tightening.
On Tuesday, the Bank of Japan said in a statement after its two-day meeting that it is maintaining the short-term interest rate at minus 0.1 percent and the target for the 10-year government bond yield at zero percent. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will hold a news conference at 3:30 p.m. local time (0630 GMT) to explain the policy decision.
In an outlook report accompanying the latest monetary policy statement, the BOJ said it is maintaining its forecast for inflation to hit 2 percent in the fiscal year 2019/2020. But it now expects core consumer prices to grow 0.8 percent in the fiscal year 2017/2018, lower than the previous projection of 1.1 percent.
Meanwhile, Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded 1.86 percent higher at 22,421.5 by 05:20, while at 04:00GMT, the FxWirePro's Hourly Yen Strength Index remained neutral at 74.04 (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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