Suga Reaffirms Continuation Candidate Status, Rinban Eyed

JGB futures shed 17 ticks in the final overnight trading session of last week, falling foul of the U.S. Tsy market/data reaction dynamic. Early Tokyo trade will see local participants weigh the tone of Friday's afternoon session up against the defensive start to broader trading evident thus far on Monday.

• Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga, favourite to succeed Japanese PM Abe, re-affirmed his support for the current BoJ Governor Kuroda and ultra-loose monetary policy in an interview with the Nikkei, made over the weekend, and also re-iterated his views re: the sales tax elsewhere.
• We also heard from LDP General Council chief Shunichi Suzuki over the weekend, as he noted that after forming a cabinet, whoever becomes the next new PM could immediately dissolve the lower house and call a snap election. Worth flagging that approval ratings have seemingly seen a sharp bounce since Suga became the front runner.
• A reminder that Friday saw the latest MNI Insight piece suggest that the Bank of Japan will likely revise its assessment of both the domestic and global economies higher at its September policy meeting, but it will maintain its cautious outlook as downside risks remain evident. BBG source reports, released later in the day, told a similar story.
• The latest eco wathcers survey and BoJ Rinban operations covering 1-5 and 25+ Year JGBs are due today.