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Investing.com-- Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled on Wednesday that the central bank was unperturbed by Japanese government bond yields racing to their highest levels since 2008, as traders bet on more interest rate hikes.
Ueda told Japan’s parliament that the market’s long-term view on interest rates aligned with that of the BOJ, indicating that the central bank was also prepared to raise rates higher.
Japanese 10-year yields broke past the 1.5% threshold set by the BOJ, although the central bank did not intervene in markets, given that it ended its yield curve control program last year. Ueda has consistently signaled that yields should be set by market factors.
The spike in Japanese yields comes amid increasing bets that the BOJ will raise rates further in 2025, with traders pricing in a 1.25% terminal rate.
The central bank is widely expected to keep rates steady at a meeting next week, but is expected to raise rates by as soon as May. The BOJ had hiked rates by 25 basis points in January, amid sticky Japanese inflation, expectations of higher wage growth and continued signs of resilience in the Japanese economy.
Producer price index data released on Wednesday showed Japan’s factory gate inflation remained above 4% in February.