Final BoJ Meeting For Kuroda Coming Into View

JGB futures added 3 ticks in the final overnight trading session of last week, after dealing either side of Tokyo settlement levels in a contained range. This came after a Tokyo rally in JGB futures and twist steepening on the curve, which were indicative of an unwind of hawkish BoJ policy tweak positioning ahead of this week’s monetary policy meeting (with sell-side surveys playing down the likelihood of some form of hawkish step re: YCC this week).

• This has been followed up by weekend comments from LDP upper house Secretary General Seko, who pointed to no reason to change the BOJ-government inflation accord, while he also expects policy continuity under BoJ Governor-in-waiting Ueda (from a “stance” perspective) and outlined a policy package that will look to combat inflation (up to Y5tn in size, to be put forth by 17 March).
• We also note that reports have pointed to further cooling of South Korea-Japan tensions, while various notable Japanese investment companies weighed in with their views on the JGB market via a Nikkei piece.
• There isn’t much in the way of local event risk slated for Monday.