TOKYO, June 24 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond

prices fell on Tuesday as investors weighed a 20-year bond

auction outcome and as a ceasefire in the Middle East lifted

risk appetite.

The auction of 20-year Japanese government bonds improved

from the outcome of the previous auction, which was the worst

since 2012, and had triggered a bond sell-off.

But it was not strong enough to show a rebound in demand for

super-long bonds, even as the Ministry of Finance announced a

plan to cut bond sales, strategists said.

"The outcome was better than the previous auction, but it

was the lower end of the expectations," said Naoya Hasegawa,

chief bond strategist at Okasan Securities.

"The market was still cautious about the demand for 20-year

bonds," he said.

The 20-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to

2.345%. The 10-year JGB yield rose 1 bp to

1.415%.

Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Tuesday's auction was the first sale of JGBs since the

finance ministry announced last week the plan to cut sales of

super-long bonds in a rare move to lift demand after super-long

bond yields rose to record highs last month.

The ministry plans to cut 20-year JGB issuance by 200

billion yen ($1.4 billion) per sale from July. It would also cut

the sales of 30- and 40-year bonds by 100 billion yen at each

sale.

"The reduction in sales will apply from next month and the

market still has a lot of supplies through this auction," said

Miki Den, a senior Japan rate strategist at SMBC Nikko

Securities.

Bonds also sold off on Tuesday as investors' risk appetite

was boosted after U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran and

Israel had agreed to a ceasefire.

Global shares rallied, with the benchmark Nikkei

rising more than 1%.

The two-year JGB yield rose 0.5 bp to 0.735%

and the five-year yield also edged up 0.5 bp to

0.965%.

The 40-year JGB yield was flat at 3.130%.

($1 = 145.3900 yen)

(Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)