TOKYO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond (JGB) yields mostly fell on Wednesday, with those on the longer end of the curve supported by a firm outcome of a 20-year bond auction in the previous session.

The 10-year JGB yield was down 1 basis point (bp) to 0.72% and the 20-year JGB yield fell 2 bps to 1.465%.

"Overall, investors awaited minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting so the market did not have a clear direction," said Kazuya Fujiwara, fixed income strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

"But the 20-year bond auction prompted investors to buy the bonds."

The minutes of the Fed's January meeting are due later in the day and traders are awaiting further clues on the policy outlook as expectations of early U.S. interest rate cuts dissipate in the wake of sticky inflation data.

The 30-year JGB yield also fell 2 bps to 1.725% and the 40-year JGB yield fell 2.5 bps to 1.925%.

Yields on the shorter end of the curve bucked the trend, with the two-year JGB yield inching up 0.5 bps to 0.15% while the five-year JGB yield was flat at 0.355%. (Reporting by Tomo Uetake and Junko Fujita; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)