JGB futures held a relatively tight range,.....>

JGBS: JGB futures held a relatively tight range, edging back from the overnight

highs, and giving back more, finishing -11 on the day. The belly underperformed

in cash trade, with the long end's relative outperformance largely giving way in

the second half of the session, after a tighter average spread in the latest

15.5-39 Year JGB liquidity enhancement auction potentially provided some support

in the early part of the afternoon. Japan/local airlines are slowly imposing

travel restrictions on South Korea & China, but focus was on a couple of

isolated coronavirus cases in corporate environments. Elsewhere, PM Abe called

for sports & cultural events to be scrapped or pared back for 2 weeks, to try &

combat the virus. This came after a senior member of the Olympic IOC provided a

light warning re: the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for this summer.

- Our latest BoJ Insight piece highlighted our understanding that "the BoJ is

unlikely to react to the coronavirus outbreak when it meets in March, but

officials will look to the April meeting to see if there is a need to revise its

current baseline recovery scenario."

- 1-10 Year BoJ Rinban operations headline the local docket tomorrow.