TOKYO, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond
yields fell on Wednesday, tracking overnight declines in U.S.
Treasury yields as markets awaited
remarks by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later this week.
The 10-year JGB yield fell 1.5 basis points
(bps) to 0.87% and the 20-year JGB yield also
fell 1.5 bps to 1.715%.
U.S. Treasury yields sank on Tuesday, as the prospect of an
interest rate cut next month loomed large ahead of the Kansas
City Fed's Jackson Hole economic symposium on Friday.
Japanese yields tracked U.S. peer's declines but strategists
say the current level of yields do not justify the Japanese
central bank's tightening path.
"Given the prospects of the Bank of Japan's rate hike path,
the current level of the five-year bond yield is low," said
Naoya Hasegawa, chief bond strategist at Okasan Securities.
Some 57% of economists said the BOJ will raise interest
rates again by year-end, according to a Reuters poll published
on Wednesday, with the median prediction for the rate at
end-year was 25 basis points higher at 0.50%.
The five-year yield fell 2 bps to 0.475%.
The rate on the forward one-year Overnight Index Swap (OIS)
maturing in August 2026 was at 0.4975%.
"It might be hard to price in the BOJ's rate hike at the
moment as the yen has gained momentum against the dollar," said
Hasegawa.
The U.S. currency dipped below the closely watched 145 yen
level against the yen earlier in the session as the
market awaited Powell's comments as well as preliminary
revisions to U.S. labour data due later in the day.
The market focus is also on a special session of Japan's
parliament on Friday, where the BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda will
discuss the BOJ's surprise rate hike last month.
The two-year JGB yield fell 0.5 bp to 0.35%.
The 30-year JGB yield fell 1.5 bps to 2.085%.
The 40-year JGB yield fell 0.5 bp to 2.34%.