Japan 5-year bond yield hits over two-week high
TOKYO, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Yields on Japan's five-year government bonds rose to a more than two-week high on Thursday, a level that had prompted the Bank of Japan (BOJ) in January-end to provide loans with the same maturity in a bid to contain them.
The five-year yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.200%, its highest level since Jan. 27, the day the BOJ announced to offer five-year loans against collateral to financial institutions.
The move, market participants said, was to encourage banks to buy the bonds with the same maturity, and narrow the spread between the yield on five-year JGBs and five-year interest rate swaps.
"Investors sold five-year notes as the yield had been depressed due to firm demand for mid-term maturities," said Keisuke Tsuruta, fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
"That was in part due to the BOJ's loans."
The 10-year JGB yield was flat at 0.490%
The 20-year JGB yield was flat at 1.305%.
The two-year JGB yield was flat at -0.035%.
Yields on super-long maturity fell, with the 30-year JGB yield slipping 0.5 bp to 1.525% and the 40-year JGB yield falling 0.5 bp to 1.770%. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; editing by Uttaresh.V)
