TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds

slid on Monday as investors awaited signals from the central

bank on the timing of its next interest rate increase.

The benchmark 10-year JGB yield rose 1.5

basis points (bps) to 2.450%, creeping higher for a fourth

straight session. The two-year yield, the one most

sensitive to Bank of Japan policy rates, increased 0.5 bp to

1.355%. Yields move inversely to bond prices.

The BOJ is expected to keep its key rate steady at 0.75% at

the end of its two-day meeting on Tuesday. That puts the focus

on the central bank's quarterly outlook and what Governor Kazuo

Ueda may say about how the Middle East conflict, now in its

second month, will impact its policy course.

"Attention is particularly focused on how strongly Governor

Ueda will hint at the possibility of a rate hike at the June

meeting," Keisuke Tsuruta, a senior bond strategist at

Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, said in a note.

"This could alter the market's expectations for the policy

rate path and potentially affect the government bond yield

curve."

The 20-year JGB yield climbed 2.5 bps to

3.320%. The five-year yield rose 1 bp to 1.840%.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Monday she

did not see an immediate need to compile a supplementary budget

to cushion the economic blow from the Middle East conflict.

(Reporting by Rocky Swift in Tokyo; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)