Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of Japan appears to be trying to let markets know that by providing information on exact dates of operations, it is also boosting flexibility in its bond buying, Chotaro Morita, chief rates strategist at Tokyo-based SMBC Nikko Securities, writes in a report.

• BOJ isn’t sending special message and there is no change in overall direction of bond buying operations
• NOTE: BOJ reduced purchase amount of 1-to-3-yr maturities on Friday, buying lower end of range of 300b yen vs 320b yen in similar operation on March 3; earlier this month, BOJ had also cut purchases of bonds maturing over 25 years
• BOJ is trying to let markets know that they will flexibly change the amount of bond buying with a wider variation
• “Having removed technical issues surrounding days of operations, the BOJ can now boost transparency over its decision on bond buying depending on supply/demand and the shape of the yield curve for a given category at a given time”