The Bank of Japan scheduled operation to buy Japanese Government Bonds has seen one minor reduction. See if you can spot it ...
- 250b yen of 1-3 year bonds vs 250b on February 23
- 330b yen of 3-5 year bonds vs 330b on February 23
- 190b yen of 10-25 year bonds vs 190b on February 23
- 70b yen of bonds maturing in over 25 years vs 80b on February 23
A very minor change indeed ... 70b yen of bonds maturing in over 25 years vs 80b on February 23
The market has talked itself into a bit of a frenzy when it sees reductions in JGB purchases. Early in the year a reduction in the 10 -25 yrs caused a frenzy of yen buying that went on for days (weeks). Then the BOJ backtracked a bit and bought more (3-5s) in a couple of operations .... and the impact was pretty much zero on the yen.
Asymmetric response, right?
The market is calming a little, though just a relatively minor sell of USD/JPY today on news of the 'taper':
