MNI POLICY: 10-Year JGB Yield Hits Record Low of -0.195%

     TOKYO (MNI) - The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bonds hit a

record low -0.195% Friday following the recent downtrend of global bond yields,

before bouncing to -0.165% on profit-taking.

     The BOJ board unofficially allows the 10-year bond yield to move in a range

of -0.20% to +0.20%, although the BOJ is targeting a level around zero percent.

     The recent drop in JGB yields, triggered largely by the decline in U.S.

Treasury bond yields, is consistent with overseas moves based on concern over a

weaker global economy and didn't prompt the BOJ to reduce the scale of its

operational purchases of long-term bonds on Friday.

     BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Thursday said that the 10-year policy

rate is a target and the central bank should cope with rate movements in a

'flexible manner'.

     He also admitted that JGB yield curve is flattening to levels seen before

the introduction of the yield curve control policy in September 2016. He also

said that the BOJ may need to deal with the flattening yield curve in an

appropriate manner, but didn't elaborate what his comments could mean.

--MNI Tokyo Bureau; tel: +81 90-2175-0040; email: hiroshi.inoue@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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