TOKYO, Dec 25 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond (JGB) yields fell on Monday as the Bank of Japan conducted a regular bond buying operation across the curve, while investors shrugged off BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda's comments during the session that reiterated previous statements.
The 10-year JGB yield fell 1.5 basis points (bps) to 0.610% and the five-year yield fell 1.5 bp to 0.230%.
The BOJ conducted its bond buying operation earlier in the session for durations between three to more than 25 years, reducing the offer for the bonds between three to five years and between five to 10 years.
"The declines in yields were underpinned by the BOJ's operation across the curve," said Naoya Hasegawa, senior bond strategist at Okasan Securities.
"The BOJ reduced the offers for some tenors because demand for the securities were firm. The yield level was low enough so that the cut in the offers did not become a negative cue for the yields."
Ueda said in a speech to business lobby Keidanren that the likelihood of achieving the central bank's inflation target was "gradually rising" and it would consider changing policy if prospects of sustainably achieving the 2% target increased "sufficiently".
Investors shrugged off Ueda's comments because they were in line with what he said after the BOJ policy meeting last week, Hasegawa said.
The 30-year JGB yield fell 1 basis point to 1.575%.
The two-year JGB yield was unchanged at 0.045% and the 40-year JGB yield was unchanged at 1.810%. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Jamie Freed)
