(Rewrites headline, 1st paragraph, updates with yield levels)

By Junko Fujita

TOKYO, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Japan's 40-year government

bond yield slipped for a fourth straight session on Tuesday,

supported by demand from foreigners after the yield hit a record

high ahead of the country's lower ‌house election over the

weekend.

The 40-year JGB yield fell 8.5 basis points to

3.73%, its lowest since ​January 9. The 30-year yield

slipped 6.5 bps to 3.495%. Yields move inversely

to ‍bond prices.

These bond yields had hit a record ⁠high last month, ⁠after Prime

Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged to suspend taxes on food for two

years in her election ‌campaign. Her Liberal Democratic Party won

in a ​landslide at the election.

"Foreign investors are continuously scooping up

super-long-dated bonds as their prices fell," said Tomoaki

Shishido, a senior rates ⁠strategist at Nomura Securities.

Foreigners bought ‍2 trillion ​yen ($12.87 billion) of JGBs in the

week ended January 31, the biggest amount since April last year,

becoming net buyers of domestic bonds for ‍a fifth straight week,

according to the finance ministry.

A 40-year bond auction held that week had a strong outcome

and proved firm demand from foreigners, said Shishido.

The benchmark 10-year JGB yield fell 5.5 bps

to 2.235%. The five-year yield fell 4 bps to 1.7%.

The two-year yield fell 1 ​bp ‍to 1.3%.

On Monday, shorter-maturity bond yields jumped as the market

braced for a weaker yen. The 2-year bond yield

rose to its highest ​since May 1996, the 5-year JGB

to a record high on that day.

On Tuesday, the shorter-dated bond yields fell, as the yen

did not weaken, diminishing expectations for the Bank of Japan's

early interest rate hike, said Eiichiro Miura, senior general

manager of investments at Nissay Asset Management.

The market had expected a revival of the so-called ​Takaichi

trade in the post-election period, where a fiscal-dove prime

minister would send the yen and bonds weaker while stocks rose.

A weaker yen typically boosts import costs, driving domestic

prices higher.

($1 = 155.3800 ‍yen)