TOKYO, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds

(JGBs) fell on Friday, pushing yields higher, as a rally in

stock markets spurred investors to sell safe-haven debt, with

hawkish signals from the Bank of Japan also weighing on bond

prices.

The 10-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point

(bp) to 1.49% as of 0404 GMT, while benchmark 10-year JGB

futures slipped 0.06 yen to 138.59 yen.

Yields move inversely to prices.

The market was also under selling pressure after U.S.

Treasury bonds declined overnight, in the wake of a soft auction

of 30-year debt.

Japanese 30-year bond yield added 1 bp to

3.07%. However, 20-year JGB yield reversed an

early rise to head 0.5 bp lower to 2.51%.

Japan's Nikkei share average soared 2.3% and the

broader Topix index climbed 1.5% to a record peak on the

back of strong earnings, and after the nation's top trade

negotiator said U.S. officials promised to amend a presidential

executive order to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods,

including autos.

Meanwhile, a summary of opinions from the Bank of Japan's

(BOJ) meeting last month showed policymakers debated the

likelihood of resuming interest rate hikes, with one signalling

the chance of an increase this year.

Shorter-dated bonds tend to be most sensitive to monetary

policy expectations. The two-year JGB yield added

0.5 bp to 0.77% and the five-year yield advanced 2

bps to 1.045%.

"We ourselves believe that the arguments for hiking are

ultimately stronger than those for waiting, and expect the BOJ

to resume its policy rate normalization sooner rather than

later," Mizuho Securities analysts wrote in a client note,

forecasting a quarter-point hike either next month or in

October.

"Holding off for too long may only serve to heighten the

risk of the central bank finding itself 'behind the curve'."