Bonjour a tout les bondaroles
Japan's Bonds Advance After Central Bank Leaves Rates Unchanged
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese five-year government notes rose, ending four days of losses, as the Bank of Japan's unanimous decision to keep interest rates unchanged fueled speculation the bank will keep borrowing costs low in coming months.
Notes completed their biggest gain in a week on expectations the bank will limit the pace of rate increases next year as it gathers more data on consumer spending and examines the strength of the global economy. Inflation and consumer spending data have been ``somewhat weak,'' Bank of Japan Governor Toshihiko Fukui said to reporters in Tokyo after the policy meeting.
``The unanimous decision added to signs that the central bank won't raise rates in the months ahead,'' said Koji Mori, who oversees the equivalent of $391 million in mutual funds at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. in Tokyo, a subsidiary of Japan's second- largest brokerage. ``We are bullish on bonds.''
The yield on five-year government notes fell 4.5 basis points to 1.225 percent as of 4:30 p.m. in Tokyo at Japan Bond Trading Co., the nation's largest interdealer debt broker. The price gained 0.211 to 99.882. The decline in yields, which move inversely to prices, was the biggest since Dec. 11.
Ten-year bond futures for March delivery advanced 0.41 to 134.49 at the 3 p.m. close of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. They rose to as high as 134.78 in evening trading in Tokyo after Fukui spoke.
Fukui Speaks
``We've been seeing both strong and weak data since October,'' Fukui told reporters in Tokyo today. ``It's true that CPI and consumption-related data have been somewhat weak.''
The central bank's decision on when to next raise interest rates won't be made based on indicators of the consumer price index and consumption alone, Fukui said. The bank has no preconception on the timing of the next rate increase, he added.
``Fukui admitted that the some sectors of the economy, such as spending, are weak,'' said Hitomi Kimura, a bond strategist in Tokyo at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., one of 25 primary dealers that are obliged to bid at government debt sales. ``Such comments reduced expectations for higher rates, encouraging people to be aggressive on government debt.''
Eleven out of 52 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had expected the Bank of Japan to raise its key interest rate a quarter percentage point to 0.50 percent today.
``There had been some speculative selling to hedge against a rate increase, so the BOJ's decision to keep rates unchanged made those people buy back bonds,'' said Takashi Fujiwara, a trader at Resona Bank Ltd., a unit of Resona Holdings Inc., Japan's fourth- biggest lender by assets.
Deflation Lingers
Traders decreased bets the central bank will increase rates in the first quarter of next year, a gauge of rate expectations showed. Yields on three-month Euroyen futures for March delivery traded at 0.63 percent today, down from 0.69 percent yesterday.
Japan's economy is still growing, though sluggish wage growth is holding back consumer spending, the central bank said today in its December economic report.
The government expects deflation to end in fiscal 2007, rather than within the current fiscal year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper reported today. Officials forecast the economy to expand 1.9 percent in real terms and 1.5 percent nominally in the current fiscal year. That's less than a July forecast of real growth of 2.1 percent and nominal growth of 2.2 percent, the newspaper said.
``The report showed that the government is more pessimistic about the economy's outlook than the Bank of Japan is, making it difficult for the central bank to back the case for higher rates,'' said Akito Fukunaga, a fixed-income strategist at Credit Suisse Group in Tokyo.
20-Year Auction
Bonds also gained after Japan's sale of 800 billion yen ($6.8 billion) of 20-year government bonds drew bids worth 3.92 times the amount sold, higher than the previous auction in November.
The 20-year sale on Nov. 21, which had a 2.2 percent coupon, drew bids for 3.45 times the amount sold. The Ministry of Finance today set a 2.1 percent coupon, the lowest since March. Twenty- year yields fell 4.5 basis points to 2.025 percent.
``The 20-year bond auction showed strong bidding,'' said Sho Aoyama, a market analyst at Mizuho Securities Co., the fourth- biggest buyer at government sales. ``The bidding was closed before the central bank's decision came out, which means that many buyers are confident about the outlook for government bonds.''
Mori at Daiwa SB Investments is keeping the average duration of his debt holdings slightly longer than recommended by a benchmark index. Duration measures sensitivity to changes in yields, and the higher an investment's duration, the more it returns when yields decline.