JGBs slip, investors trim longs before fiscal year-end

TOKYO, March 28 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds slipped on Wednesday, keeping futures near a one-month low as investors trimmed long positions before the end of the financial year this week.

Trading was subdued as mainly steady U.S. Treasuries and a standstill in Japanese stocks offered few incentives for investors to take on big positions before data on Japanese consumer prices, jobs and industrial production on Friday.

"The market will remain very quiet as we approach the fiscal year-end," said Tatsuo Ichikawa, a JGB analyst at ABN AMRO Securities. "Investors will be sidelined ahead of the data."

Investors were also awaiting the Bank of Japan's tankan quarterly survey on business sentiment on April 2.

June futures 2JGBv1 slipped 0.13 point to 134.12 in early trade while the Nikkei average .N225 traded 0.07 percent lower. Earlier in the week, futures fell to 133.96, the contract's lowest since late February.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year JGB JP10YTN=JBTC rose 2.5 basis points to 1.660 percent, pulling away from a 13-month low 1.545 percent hit last week.

The maturity was sold as market participants pushed the yield higher to help ensure a 1.7 percent coupon at a 10-year auction next week.

The 20-year yield JP20YTN=JBTC rose four basis points to 2.145 percent, a one-month high.

The two-year yield JP2YTN=JBTC rose half a basis point to 0.815 percent.

U.S. Treasuries were mainly unchanged on Wednesday, after weak consumer confidence data was balanced by a spike in inflation expectations that did little to clear doubts about the outlook for U.S. interest rates.