JGB yields slip in muted trade as Bank of Japan policy meeting begins

TOKYO, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond yields edged lower on Monday in muted trading as the Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting amid the U.S. Treasury market being shut for a holiday.

Benchmark 10-year JGB futures rose 0.03 point to 150.83, with a trading volume of 19,819 lots. But the 10-year cash JGB yield was flat at 0.145%.

The 20-year yield slipped 0.5 basis point to 0.530%, while the 30-year yield fell 1 basis point to 0.710%.

Five-year yields eased 0.5 basis point to minus 0.025%. Two-year JGB yields were flat at minus 0.075%.

The BOJ has said it will continue with ultra-easy policy to support the economic recovery and is widely expected to leave its core policy setting unchanged on Tuesday, but policy makers are also said to be debating how to communicate an eventual interest rate hike.

Ahead of that, and without trading leads from the Treasury market, it's hard for investors to take positions in the JGB market, said Takenobu Nakajima, a chief rates strategist at Nomura Securities. (Reporting by Tokyo markets team)