Lacking Momentum

JGB futures have struggled to meaningfully extend on their overnight gains, with little in the way of progress seen above 152.00 during the Tokyo morning, as the contract hit the lunch bell just below that particular psychological marker, 11 ticks above Monday's settlement levels.

• Cash trade saw some modest richening, although deviations vs. Monday's closing levels were negligible.
• Locally, the COVID-19 backdrop continues to generate attention, while the BoJ trimmed its 1-3 Year JGB purchase size by Y50bn in its latest round of Rinban ops (there had been some speculation surrounding such a move ahead of today's purchases, as we flagged earlier), while it left the size of its 3-10 Year JGB purchases unchanged. The offer/cover ratios seen at the ops were unchanged to a little softer vs. their respective prev.