(Bloomberg) — Nippon Life Insurance Co. plans to buy super-long Japanese government bonds and will accelerate purchases when the 30-year yield rises significantly above 2%.
“We are steadily buying 30-year securities as they are becoming attractive,” Akira Tsuzuki, executive officer of the company’s finance and investment planning department, said at a media briefing on Wednesday.
After slowing purchases in the second half of the fiscal year ended March 31 due to a decline in yields, “we are undertaking constant purchase at the current levels,” Tsuzuki said.
Yields on Japan’s 30-year sovereign bonds rose to 1.95% on Wednesday, from about 1.82% at the start of April and 1.63% at the beginning of the year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Nippon Life boosted holdings of domestic bonds by ¥710 billion ($4.6 billion) in the last financial year, and expects to add about the same amount this year.
Nippon Life sees the Bank of Japan raising the key interest rate to 0.25% in the October-December period, Tsuzuki said. The central bank delivered its first rate hike since 2007 in March, removing negative interest rates and the yield-curve control program.
–With assistance from Masaki Kondo and Yumi Teso.
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