JGB yields rise further as investors weigh BOJ, issuance

SINGAPORE, Oct 25 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond yields rose on Monday, extending last week's run despite a softening in U.S. Treasury yields, as traders weighed the odds of heavier issuance and an upcoming central bank meeting.

The Bank of Japan's two-day meeting ends on Thursday and is likely to confirm that BOJ would be among the last of the major central banks to lift pandemic-era low rates.

An upcoming national election https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/main-parties-contesting-japans-lower-house-poll-2021-10-07 on Oct. 31 is also on the minds of market participants, as they contemplate the odds of new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida being able to go ahead with heavy spending plans for the economy, which would mean more borrowing for an already heavily indebted government.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner currently have a near two-thirds majority of the 465 seats in the house. Kishida is hoping they retain a majority, despite a setback this weekend after an opposition candidate won one of the two upper house by-elections.

The 10-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to 0.095%. The 20-year JGB yield rose 1 basis point to 0.495%.

The five-year yield was flat at minus 0.070%. Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.03 point to 151.27, with a trading volume of 12,023 lots.

As rates move higher, insurers and Japanese pension funds appear to be increasing allocations to longer term JGBs.

Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance, Japan's third-largest private life insurance firm, said on Monday it expected the yen to rebound and planned to reduce investment in foreign sovereign bonds while increasing domestic investment in the second half of the financial year ending March. (Reporting by Vidya Ranganathan in Singapore; Editing by Rashmi Aich)