Japan plans deeper cut in super-long bond sales, no immediate buybacks eyed
TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Japan's government plans to cut scheduled sales of super-long bonds more than initially planned in a revision to its bond issuance programme for the current fiscal year, a document released by the finance ministry showed.
The revision to the annual issuance plan, coupled with the Bank of Japan's decision this week to slow its tapering of bond purchase from next fiscal year, reflects policymakers' all-out efforts to soothe market concerns after the surge in super-long yields to record highs last month.
The revised issuance plan was presented to primary dealers, or financial institutions that act as market makers, for discussion at a meeting on Friday.
A finance ministry official told reporters after the meeting that the ministry is not in the process right now of implementing buybacks of super-long JGBs issued in the past at low interest rates.
The government will not rule out the future possibility of considering buybacks, but demand and the feasibility for such operations have to be discussed if such a step is taken, the official said.
In the revised issuance plan, the government will reduce 20-year Japanese government bond (JGB) sales by 1.8 trillion yen ($12.38 billion) to 10.2 trillion yen for the year ending in March, while 30-year JGB sales will be cut by 900 billion yen, and 40-year JGB sales by 500 billion yen, according to the document.
This means starting next month, sales of 20-year JGBs will be cut by 200 billion yen at every auction, larger than a reduction of 100 billion yen shown in the draft document seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The planned cut for 20-year JGBs was larger to reflect opinions of market participants, the ministry official said.
Total JGB sales for the year through next March are set to fall by 500 billion yen to 171.8 trillion yen, as the reductions in the super-long sector would be partly offset by increased issuance of shorter-term notes.
The potential buyback of older bonds will enhance liquidity in those bonds, allowing bond dealers to trade their securities more easily and helping free up their balance sheets, which in turn help smooth issuance of new bonds.
While buybacks of inflation-indexed bonds have been conducted regularly, the last time the finance ministry executed buyback operations for fixed-coupon JGBs was in fiscal year 2002 through 2008, when the government smoothed out the pace of massive redemptions scheduled for 2008.
The step, similar to the buyback operations that the U.S. Treasury Department resumed last year, may take a while to be implemented as it may need a budget compilation for funding depending on the size of buybacks, as well as adjustments to the trading system.
($1 = 145.3700 yen)
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Japan plans deeper cut in super-long bond sales, no immediate buybacks eyed
TOKYO, June 20 (Reuters) - Japan's government plans to cut scheduled sales of super-long bonds more than initially planned in a revision to its bond issuance programme for the current fiscal year, a document released by the finance ministry showed. The revision to the annual issuance plan, coupled with the Bank of Japan's decision this week to slow its tapering of bond purchase from next fiscal year, reflects policymakers' all-out efforts to soothe market concerns after the surge in super-long yields to record highs last month. The revised issuance plan was presented to primary dealers, or financial institutions that act as market makers, for discussion at a meeting on Friday. A finance ministry official told reporters after the meeting that the ministry is not in the process right now of implementing buybacks of super-long JGBs issued in the past at low interest rates. The government will not rule out the future possibility of considering buybacks, but demand and the feasibility for such operations have to be discussed if such a step is taken, the official said. In the revised issuance plan, the government will reduce 20-year Japanese government bond (JGB) sales by 1.8 trillion yen ($12.38 billion) to 10.2 trillion yen for the year ending in March, while 30-year JGB sales will be cut by 900 billion yen, and 40-year JGB sales by 500 billion yen, according to the document. This means starting next month, sales of 20-year JGBs will be cut by 200 billion yen at every auction, larger than a reduction of 100 billion yen shown in the draft document seen by Reuters on Thursday. The planned cut for 20-year JGBs was larger to reflect opinions of market participants, the ministry official said. Total JGB sales for the year through next March are set to fall by 500 billion yen to 171.8 trillion yen, as the reductions in the super-long sector would be partly offset by increased issuance of shorter-term notes. The potential buyback of older bonds will enhance liquidity in those bonds, allowing bond dealers to trade their securities more easily and helping free up their balance sheets, which in turn help smooth issuance of new bonds. While buybacks of inflation-indexed bonds have been conducted regularly, the last time the finance ministry executed buyback operations for fixed-coupon JGBs was in fiscal year 2002 through 2008, when the government smoothed out the pace of massive redemptions scheduled for 2008. The step, similar to the buyback operations that the U.S. Treasury Department resumed last year, may take a while to be implemented as it may need a budget compilation for funding depending on the size of buybacks, as well as adjustments to the trading system. ($1 = 145.3700 yen)
