Stocks, Bonds & Forex Trading
Source: www.bloomberg.com

By Yasuhiko Seki

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Japan’s 30-year bonds declined for a fifth day, driving the yield to a three-week high, as stock gains sapped demand for the relative security of government debt.

“A bull run in the stock market drove the bond market lower,” said Katsutoshi Inadome, a Tokyo-based strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, the brokerage unit of Japan’s largest banking group, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

The yield on the 2.4 percent note due in September 2038 climbed 2.5 basis points to 1.95 percent, the highest since Dec. 19, as of 1:33 p.m. in Tokyo, according to Japan Bond Trading Co., the nation’s largest interdealer debt broker. The price fell 0.512 to 108.452 yen.

Ten-year bond futures for March delivery declined 0.61 to 139.08 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the most since Jan. 6.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year bond rose 3 basis points to 1.25 percent. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 4.6 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yasuhiko Seki in Tokyo at Yseki5@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: January 26, 2009 23:36 EST