Citing two sources with direct knowledge of the plan, Reuters reported on Monday that the Japanese government is considering buying back some super-long bonds issued in the past at low interest rates.

Additional takeaways

The Ministry of Finance, which oversees the government's debt issuance plan, will reach a final decision after holding meetings with bond market participants on June 20 and June 23.

Buying back super-long Japanese government bonds (JGB) would require budget approval and will likely take time.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) will likely maintain its current bond-taper programme running through March, but consider slowing the pace of tapering from next fiscal year.

Market reaction

The Japanese Yen (JPY) is gaining further ground on these headlines, dragging USD/JPY 0.56% lower on the day at 144.04, as of writing.

Japanese Yen PRICE Today

The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the US Dollar.

USD EUR GBP JPY CAD AUD NZD CHF
USD -0.33% -0.35% -0.56% -0.17% -0.54% -0.77% -0.26%
EUR 0.33% -0.04% -0.25% 0.14% -0.19% -0.46% 0.05%
GBP 0.35% 0.04% -0.14% 0.19% -0.13% -0.42% 0.10%
JPY 0.56% 0.25% 0.14% 0.40% -0.03% -0.27% 0.19%
CAD 0.17% -0.14% -0.19% -0.40% -0.39% -0.61% -0.09%
AUD 0.54% 0.19% 0.13% 0.03% 0.39% -0.27% 0.24%
NZD 0.77% 0.46% 0.42% 0.27% 0.61% 0.27% 0.51%
CHF 0.26% -0.05% -0.10% -0.19% 0.09% -0.24% -0.51%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).

Source: Fxstreet