BOJ announces emergency bond-buying operations, USD/JPY flirts with 150.00

“Japan’s central bank on Thursday said it would hold emergency bond-buying operations, offering to buy some $667 million in government debt, a move designed to put a floor under bond prices,” said Reuters.

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The yen has been hammered this year by the widening difference between the US and Japanese interest rates. Some investors have bet Japan will need to ditch its long policy of ‘yield curve control’, or YCC, – where it buys massive amounts of bonds to keep the yield on 10-year debt at around 0%.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB briefly touched 0.255% for the second straight day, above the BOJ’s policy ceiling, before retreating to 0.25%, within the band.