### POV: BOJ TRIMS RINBAN AHEAD OF GOLD WEEK....>

BOJ: ### POV: BOJ TRIMS RINBAN AHEAD OF GOLD WEEK

- The BOJ has trimmed the size of its 10-25 Year JGB purchases by Y20bn, to

Y160bn (the prev. tweak to purchases in this bucket saw a Y20bn reduction back

on Feb 12), while it also cut the size of its 25+ Year purchases by Y10bn, to

Y40bn, in the first reduction of purchases in that bucket since Sep '18.

- Increased demand for longer dated JGBs at FY end, which also coincided with

the latest dovish turns from some of the major central banks, coupled with

strong demand at super-long auctions may have pushed the BoJ into this move.

However, 10-Year yields weren't sitting at the extremes of the BoJ's permitted

-/+0.2% range (~-0.04% beforehand & ~-0.02% after the move), after printing as

low as -0.1% in late March.

- The move will likely catch many off guard, owing to the timing (many away for

Easter), coupled with no fresh speculation surrounding the matter in recent

days. The fact there is no notable super-long end supply until May 14 may have

driven the move, but, perhaps the BoJ is worried about the effects of the longer

than usual Golden Week holiday period, which gets under way on April 29.