Japanese government bond prices were mostly lower on Friday, as investors looked ahead to a 10-year debt offering during the holiday-shortened week ahead. The superlong tenor fared better as some investors bought on dips, shrugging off the Bank of Japan's semi-annual economic and price report that officially forecast 2 percent inflation during the latter half of the coming three-year period covered by the outlook.
"Never say never, but [the 2 percent outlook] seems unlikely. Even if they only get 1 percent, that would be a good result," said Neale Vincent, strategist at Nomura Securities in Tokyo. Government data on Friday showed core consumer prices marked their fifth straight month of annual drops in March even as a recently weaker yen pushed up the cost of imported goods.
Tokyo markets will be closed for holidays on April 29, and then on May 3 and May 6. On May 1, the Ministry of Finance will offer 2.4 trillion yen ($24.12 billion) of 10-year notes. The 10-year yield added 1 basis point to 0.590 percent, staying within this week's trading range of 0.575 to 0.610 percent. Ten-year futures finished down 0.08 point at 144.65 on light volume of 16,676 contracts. The 20-year JGB yield edged down 0.5 basis point to 1.475 percent and the 30-year yield also slipped by that amount to 1.605 percent.
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