Japan Two-Year Bond Sale in Focus as Investors Mull BOJ Outlook

Japan’s sale of two-year government bonds on Friday will reveal the appetite for the policy-sensitive debt as investors deliberate over the latest signals from the Bank of Japan.

Shorter-maturity bonds were sold while the yen strengthened Thursday after an interview with BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda in the Yomiuri newspaper was seen as reiterating the central bank’s rate-hike path. That reversed moves seen on Wednesday after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi nominated two new monetary policy board members who are seen as dovish.