JGBs slip as market absorbs fresh supply of 5-year debt

Japanese government bond prices slipped on Tuesday as the market absorbed a fresh supply of five-year debt.

The benchmark 10-year yield was up half a basis point at 0.075 percent, not far from a 10-month peak of 0.080 percent marked the previous day when it accompanied a surge in U.S. Treasury yields.

The five-year yield was up a basis point at minus 0.075 percent. The yield did manage to pull back from minus 0.070 percent after a degree of demand was witnessed at Tuesday’s 2.4 trillion yen ($ 20.87 billion) five-year auction.

The bid-to-cover ratio, a gauge of demand, at the 5-year sale rose to 4.48 from 3.56 at the last offering in November.

The super long zones fared better thanks to bargain hunting following a recent rise in yields. The 20-year yield was down 0.5 basis point at 0.630 percent after briefly touching a 10-month high of 0.650 percent.