Japanese government bonds were little changed on Wednesday as investors stayed away from taking big positions ahead of US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech later in the day and an auction of 30-year debt on Thursday.

Powell is set to speak at a webcast event, and his comments will be closely watched for more clues on the chances of negative US interest rates.

Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.03 point to 152.28, with a trading volume of 5,744 lots.

The 10-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.005%, while the 20-year JGB yield was flat at 0.325%.

In the superlong zone, the 30-year JGB yield and the 40-year JGB yield were both steady at 0.455% and 0.465%, respectively.

At the short end, the two-year JGB yield fell 0.5 basis point to minus 0.175%, while the five-year yield rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.120%.

The Ministry of Finance will reopen the current issue, offering 700 billion yen ($6.53 billion) worth of 30-year JGBs on Thursday. ($1 = 107.1500 yen)

Reuters