BANK OF JAPAN HAS NO COMMENT ON YEN BOND REPORT
A Bank of Japan spokesman declined to
comment on a press report that the central bank had decided to
conduct closer scrutiny of the operations of financial
institutions in the bond market.
    The JIJI Press news agency had quoted Bank of Japan sources
as telling Japanese reporters the bank was deeply concerned
over potential risk in yen bond trading because the market had
risen too fast.
    However, JIJI quoted the sources as saying, the central
bank would not take such actions as guiding interest rates
higher.
    JIJI quoted the sources as saying that current bond market
yields are similar to short-term interest rates due to
excessive speculative operations.
    This was attributable to heavy redemptions of government
bonds and unclear prospects for the dollar, which has sent many
foreign bond market participants to the domestic market, the
sources were quoted as saying.
 REUTER
