Last week's reading was the lowest since the minus 61 marked in early July. The Ministry of Finance will offer 2.3 trillion yen of 10-year bonds on Tuesday and 700 billion yen of 30-year bonds on Thursday. The median forecast for the 10-year JGB yield for the end of this week was 0.720 percent, above Friday's closing level of 0.705 percent. Late on Friday, the 10-year yield briefly dipped below the 0.70 percent level to 0.695 percent, its lowest since June 2003.
Sentiment deteriorated last week ahead of the general election on December 16, at which the ruling party is expected to fare poorly. Main opposition leader Shinzo Abe, a front-runner to be Japan's next prime minister, has called on the Bank of Japan to take more drastic easing steps, which has pressured the yen as well as prices of superlong JGBs. The online survey of 95 JGB market participants from major institutions received 37 responses, for a response rate of 38.9 percent. These included 18 responses from "real money" investors from institutions such as banks, pension and investment funds and insurance companies.