TOKYO, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Japan's 10-year government bond yield hit a more than nine-year high on Tuesday, crossing a level that had prompted the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to intervene in the market earlier this month.
The 10-year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis points (bps) to 0.665%, its highest level since January 2014.
The increasing yield could have prompted the BOJ to conduct emergency buying but the central bank did not announce any such move by 0530 GMT, as market players said the pace of the rise in yield was steady.
"The yield rose on the back of the increases in U.S. Treasury yields overnight. It was an orderly move and not driven by speculation, which is why the BOJ did not step in," said Naoya Hasegawa, senior bond strategist at Okasan Securities.
The BOJ's absence from the market in the current session raised speculation about under which circumstances the BOJ would conduct emergency operations to contain yields, a move that could affect the yen and the Japanese stock market.
"The market is still searching the level of the 10-year bond yield," said Keisuke Tsuruta, fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
"We still do not know whether the next stage for the BOJ to step in - would it be when the yield hits 0.7%, or when it rises rapidly."
On Aug. 3, the BOJ conducted unscheduled buying of bonds after the 10-year yield hit 0.655%, its second emergency buying in that week. The yield jumped 15.5 bps from the low on July 28, when the BOJ tweaked its yield policy, to the high on Aug. 3.
The yields rose across the curve, with the five-year yield rising 1 bp to 0.235%, its highest since Feb. 24.
The 20-year JGB yield rose to 1.4%, its highest level since January 13. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Rashmi Aich)
