MNI POLICY: BOJ Trims 3 and 5-Year JGB Buys To Curb Low Yields

     TOKYO (MNI) - The Bank of Japan Monday trimmed the scale of its purchases

of Japanese government bonds with a remaining life of 3-to-5 years to Y340

billion from the Y360 billion seen at the previous similar operation on Sep 24.

     The reduction was expected by many bond market players given the

comparative strength of the 5-year sector of the curve.

     The yield on 5-year bonds closed at -0.375% on Friday after falling to

-0.400% on Wednesday, the lowest level since July 2016.

     The BOJ Monday also increased the scale of its purchases of JGBs with a

remaining life of 1 to 3 years to Y420 billion from Y400 billion at the similar

operation on Sept. 24.

     The BOJ will publish its guidelines for its JGB buying operations for

October at 1700 JST (0800 GMT) on Monday.

--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

[TOPICS: MMJBJ$,M$A$$$,M$J$$$,M$$FI$,MN$FI$]