The JGB curve bear steepened on Thursday,......>

JGBS: The JGB curve bear steepened on Thursday, aided by an uptick in risk

sentiment.

- The US Tsy curve bull flattened on Thursday, as the ECB dropped its easing

bias, but left the bulk of its rhetoric elsewhere unchanged, alongside a modest

downtick in its inflation forecasts.

- Barclays note that "today could see buyers initially take a slight upper hand

in the JGB market, led by futures, after USTs bull-flattened overnight, but we

look for ranged trade overall ahead of the BoJ results. We expect the BoJ MPM to

be a non-event with monetary policy remaining intact, in line with market

expectations"

- Focus will of course fall on Kuroda's press conference given the comments made

last Friday.

- Barclays also note that "February saw Japanese investors switch to the sell

side in foreign bonds with the rise in overseas yields, based on International

Transactions in Securities data for that period. January BoP data indicated a

continuing shift from US bonds to German, French & other EGBS."