TOKYO, July 3 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds

(JGBs) fell on Thursday ahead of the first super-long debt

auction under the government's new reduced-issuance scheme

introduced in response to record-high yields.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB rose

1.5 basis points (bps) to 1.440%. The 30-year yield

rose 0.5 bp to 2.89%.

Yields move inversely to bond prices.

The market for JGBs, particularly long-dated bonds, has

faced challenges of late amid the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) tapering

of bond purchases, softer demand from life insurers and concerns

over the nation's fiscal health.

A 20-year JGB auction in May saw the weakest demand since

1987 and the subsequent sales of 30- and 40-year securities saw

subdued uptake in the market.

Yields on the super-long debt surged to record levels,

prompting the government to curtail the issuance of the

securities.

The Ministry of Finance is due to auction about 700 billion

yen ($4.9 billion) of 30-year JGBs on the day, down from the

sale of about 800 billion-900 billion yen in June.

The five-year yield rose 1 bp to 0.980%.

($1 = 143.5700 yen)