19.02.202604:30:30UTC+00Japan 10Y Yield Holds Steady After Bond Sale

Japan’s 10-year government bond yield was little changed around 2.15% on Thursday, hovering near a six-week low, after the latest 20-year JGB auction attracted weaker demand than the 12-month average as lower yields dampened investor appetite. The 20-year yield traded around 2.98%, well below the nearly three-decade high of 3.46% reached last month. Yields had surged in January after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi proposed a two-year cut to the sales tax on food, stoking concerns over the country’s fiscal outlook. They later pulled back following Takaichi’s landslide election victory, which reduced political uncertainty and strengthened expectations that her expansionary fiscal agenda could underpin economic growth. Separately, data showed that Japan’s machinery orders rebounded sharply in December after a steep decline in November, supported by one-off large orders from refineries and nuclear fuel producers.