JGB's slightly lower in early trade in the.....>

JGBS: JGB's slightly lower in early trade in the first Tokyo session of the

year, last down 1 tick at 150.77. Japanese equity markets making gains early in

the session, the Nikkei 225 up a whopping 483 points at 23249 playing catch up

with 2018 gains made by US and European markets and an extra tailwind from a

weaker yen after the FOMC minutes saw a bout of USD strength.

- Japanese data largely ignored so far, Nikkei Dec Final Japan Manufacturing PMI

54.0 (Flash 54.2, Prev Final 53.6), this final reading denotes the highest

headline reading since Feb 2014, output and new orders also hitting 4 year

highs.

- BoJ will conduct their first JGB purchases of 2018 today, their January plan

kept all sizes/frequency unchanged. The bank will purchase 1-10 Year JGB's

today.

- Could see some price action post BOJ ops, particularly after the long weekend

break for Japan.