Japan is committed to the G-20 agreement on foreign-exchange policy and is not manipulating its currency, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, the country’s top government spokesman, said on Monday.
The US Treasury issued its semiannual currency report on Friday and Japan was one of the US trading partners who were on a currency “monitoring list.”
Suga told reporters the report did not require a response as the list was mechanically created based on data such as current account and trade surpluses with the US.
The report did not label any major trading partner as a currency manipulator.
Government bonds
Japanese government bonds (JGB) firmed on Monday, with super-long yields touching multi-month lows as JGBs took the cue from falling US Treasury yields in the wake of their lackluster economic data.
The benchmark 10-year JGB yield was half a basis point lower on the day at 0.005 percent, while 10-year JGB futures ended up 0.06 point at 151.15. Earlier in the session, futures hit 151.21, their highest level since mid-November.
The 20-year JGB yield shed 1.5 basis points to 0.545 percent, matching its lowest level on Dec. 22, while the 30-year JGB yield fell 2.5 basis points to 0.735 percent, its lowest since mid-January.
The benchmark US Treasury yield wallowed at five-month lows, catching up to global yields after the US bond market was closed late last week to observe Good Friday.
The 10-year US yield slipped as low as 2.198 percent and last stood at 2.210 percent, down from the US close of 2.228 percent on Thursday.
US economic data on Friday showed retail sales dropped more than expected last month as annual core inflation slowed to 2 percent, the smallest advance since November 2015.
On Monday, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) offered to buy 450 billion yen ($4.16 billion) of five- to 10-year JGBs, in line with the amount it offered to purchase in that zone in its previous buying operations. It also offered to buy 100 billion yen of floating-rate JGBs linked to the consumer price index.

Source: Arab News