Japan set a 4% coupon on 30-year debt, up from 3.4% in January

Japan's Ministry of Finance sold 30-year bonds on 7 July at a coupon of 4.0%, issue number 91. We worked from the ministry's own auction results. Bids totalled 2,070.0 billion yen and 454.9 billion was accepted, a cover ratio of 4.55. The lowest accepted price was 100.05, a yield of 3.996%, and the weighted average price was 100.09, a yield of 3.993%. The gap between the two, four sen, is narrow, which is what a well-covered auction looks like. Compare the same tenor on 8 January, issue 89, sold with a 3.4% coupon at an average yield of 3.447%: bids of 1,647.3 billion yen against 524.9 billion accepted, a ratio of 3.14. Six months moved the coupon 60 basis points. The bonds were issued on 8 July.