JGB yields edge higher as US debt deal cuts demand for bonds

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) - Benchmark Japanese government bond yields edged higher on Monday, as a weekend deal by U.S. President Joe Biden and congressional Republican Kevin McCarthy to suspend the debt ceiling reduced demand for the safety of local government debt.

The 10-year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis point (bp) to 0.43%.

The 20-year yield added 1 bp to 1.02%. The 30-year yield was flat at 1.245%, after earlier advancing 0.5 bp.

Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.04 yen to 148.52.

Still, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust AM senior strategist Katsutoshi Inadome cautioned that the agreement in principle between Biden and McCarthy is by no means guaranteed to get through Congress.

"It's not the main scenario, but if things go bad, yields are probably going to fall," he said.

At the same time, "yen bonds haven't really been bought because of the debt ceiling standoff, so while they're being sold initially due to risk-on owing to an agreement, I don't think the impact will last long," he added.

Two-year and five-year JGBs were yet to trade, as of 0414 GMT.

U.S. markets are closed on Monday for a holiday, and Treasuries did not trade in Tokyo.

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Additional reporting by Tomo Uetake; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)