TOKYO, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond yieldsat the long end of the curve rose on Friday after the Bank ofJapan said it will reduce slightly the amount of debt itpurchases for its quantitative easing.
Benchmark 10-year JGB futures fell 0.01 point to154.76, with a trading volume of 24,590 lots.
The 10-year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point tominus 0.225%.
The 20-year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis pointsto 0.180%. The 30-year JGB yield increased 3 bpsto 0.345%.
The 40-year JGB yield rose 5.5 bps to 0.405%.
At the short end of the curve, the two-year JGB yieldfell 0.5 basis point to minus 0.310%.
The BOJ said earlier on Friday that starting from next weekit will reduce the amount of government debt it buys.
A minor cut in purchases of longer-dated bonds was widelyexpected. The BOJ also trimmed short-term debt purchases, whichconfused some investors because it is widely assumed that theBOJ wants a steeper yield curve, dealers said.
The BOJ kept monetary policy steady on Thursday butsignalled the chance of expanding stimulus as early as its nextpolicy meeting in October by issuing a stronger warning againstoverseas risks.(Reporting by the Tokyo Markets Team; Editing by SubhranshuSahu)