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.