Japan's biggest banks to raise housing loan rates after BOJ's policy tweak

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's three biggest banks said on Friday they would raise interest rates for housing loans for next month, reflecting the Bank of Japan's tweak in its ultra-loose policy.

Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, the main banking unit of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, will raise 10-year fixed-rate loans by 0.26 percentage point to 3.79%, while that rate for Mizuho Bank, the main banking unit of Mizuho Financial Group, will be 3.50%, up by 0.3 percentage point.

Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, the main banking unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, will raise the rate by 0.18 percentage point to 3.7%.

Each bank has special loan programs for selected customers so their rates will be lower, with Sumitomo Mitsui charging 1.14%, Mizuho 1.60% and Mitsubishi UFJ 1.05%.

Japan's central bank surprised the market last week by raising the cap on 10-year bond yield to 0.5% from 0.25%.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Shimizu; Writing by Junko Fujita; Editing by Bradley Perrett)