TOKYO, July 6: Japanese government bonds rose on Wednesday, sending yields on longer maturities to fresh record lows as investors scurried into the safety of sovereign debt on fears of global fallout from Britain’s vote to exit the European Union. The benchmark 10-year yield fell 2 basis points to a record low minus 0.275 percent, while the 30-year JGB yield shed 3.5 basis points to 0.020 percent, after touching a record low of 0.015 percent earlier.The 20-year JGB yield fell 2 basis points to 0.010 percent after some traders said it briefly fell as low as minus 0.005 percent earlier in the session, blipping into negative territory for the first time.”Yields are hanging around zero percent. No one wants to buy at these levels, but no one wants to sell aggressively, either,” said Tadashi Matsukawa, head of Japan fixed income at PineBridge Investments in Tokyo.”The situation of the Italian banks makes me a little bit worried that Brexit effects will spread, and we need to be carefully watching the European banking sector,” he said.Shares in Italy’s banks, which are groaning under a load of non-performing loans, plunged overnight.Fears of financial contagion in the wake of the Brexit vote helped push the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield to a fresh record low of 1.341 percent in Asian trading on Wednesday, which added to the pressure to JGB yields.September 10-year futures ended up 0.17 point at 153.48 after earlier scaling a record peak of 153.64. (AGENCIES)
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