Following The Crowd Lower

JGB futures print -14 vs. yesterday's settlement, a little above session lows, with the belly of the curve leading the way lower in cash trade.

• There has been little in the way of meaningful news flow, with onshore investors playing catch up to overnight movements in the broader core global FI space.
• Local data was broadly in line with expectations, with nothing in the way of notable movement in the latest round of Tokyo CPI & labour market data.
• A quick look at the latest round of BoJ Rinban operations saw purchase sizes remain unchanged across the buckets in play, with steady to lower offer to cover ratios across the 3- to 5- and 5- to 10-Year buckets.
• Recent headline flow from BoJ Governor Kuroda provided no surprises, as he shrugged off any concerns re: global monetary policy divergence, stressing the need for ultra-loose policy settings in Japan. Elsehwere, Kuroda said that the Bank would consider the extension of its COVID support schemes after press reports suggested that the facilities may be extended through the end of the calendar year.
• Elsewhere, corporate supply saw SoftBank price Y100bn of paper across 5-, 7- & 10-Year tranches.