JGBs fall as dealers book profits, Shirakawa eyed

By Rika Otsuka

TOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond futures fell on Monday as dealers locked in profits after a surge late last week, while the market awaited comments from Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa for clues about the central bank's policy path.

JGBs jumped on Friday as investors rushed to buy paper at higher yields after putting a poor 10-year debt sale behind them. Roiled by a steep sell-off in late April that sent JGB futures tumbling to their biggest one-day drop in five years, market players had been worried about prospects for last Thursday's auction of benchmark 10-year bonds.

"Some market players are taking profits following Friday's sharp rally," said a trader at a European trust bank.

"But bond selling is not aggressive and the market could easily be turned around by bargain-hunting that shows investor demand is solid," he said.

The BOJ's Shirakawa started delivering a speech at the Japan National Press Center at around 0300 GMT.

The market will pay attention to his comments after the BOJ late last month dropped its bias towards raising rates and adopted a more neutral stance, saying it would adjust rates flexibly.

Swap contracts on the overnight call rate show investors see a roughly 35 percent chance of the BOJ boosting rates by the end of the year JPONIBOJ=TRDT.

June 10-year futures slid 0.24 point to 136.36 2JGBv1. The lead contract soared 0.80 point on Friday.

The benchmark 10-year yield edged up 2 basis points to 1.575 percent JP10YTN=JBTC, but stayed well off a seven-month high of 1.680 percent struck last week.

The two-year yield was up 1 basis point at 0.735 percent JP2YTN=JBTC, while the five-year yield rose 2 basis points to 1.140 percent JP5YTN=JBTC.

Another of the market's focal points this week is the Finance Ministry's 1.9 trillion yen ($18.5 billion) five-year debt auction on Thursday, which is seen as a gauge of investor appetite for government debt after an unusually volatile bond market in the past two months.

The five-year notes suffered badly during the bond slump as expectations for a BOJ rate cut receded, with some in the market even switching their sights towards an eventual rate rise.

"After the recent sharp sell-off, the JGB market rebounded, led by gains in the short- and mid-term sectors," said Akihiko Yokoyama, chief JGB strategist at JPMorgan Securities. "People are watching whether this trend persists."

The 20-year yield edged up 1 basis point to 2.195 percent JP20YTN=JBTC.

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