JGB market sentiment hits 7-month high - Thomson Reuters survey
TOKYO, March 4 (Reuters) - A weekly gauge of sentiment in the Japanese government bond market rose to its highest level in about seven months, on expectations of aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan, the latest Thomson Reuters poll showed on Monday.
The poll's JGB bull-bear diffusion index, calculated by subtracting the number of bearish market players from those who are bullish, rose to plus 19, improving from plus 6 in the previous survey.
JGBs rallied sharply last week, with the yield on the current 30-year bonds falling 14.5 basis points, its biggest weekly decline since December 2008.
On Monday, the 30-year bond yield fell another 2.0 basis points to 1.745 percent, a seven-month low while the yield on benchmark 10-year bonds skidded 1.5 basis point to a 10-year low of 0.640 percent.
Monetary policy is the biggest focus of market players, with 68.8 percent of respondents citing it as an important factor for their forecast, up from 64.5 percent last week.
Bank of Japan Governor nominee Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday in his confirmation hearing in parliament that the current size of the BOJ's asset purchase was not enough.
The online survey of 97 JGB market participants from major institutions received 32 responses, for a response rate of 33 percent. These included 12 "real money" investors from institutions such as banks, pension and investment funds, and insurance companies.
The latest survey was conducted from Friday to 8:30 a.m. on Monday (2330 GMT on Sunday).
(Reporting by Yoshiyasu Shida, Writing by Hideyuki Sano; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)