OREANDA-NEWS. March 12, 2015. Japanese government bonds firmed on Wednesday, bolstered by the Bank of Japan's purchases under its bond-buying programme and also underpinned by the European Central Bank starting its own quantitative easing scheme.

The ECB began printing money to buy sovereign bonds this week, aiming to support growth and spark euro zone inflation. Yields on the debt of nearly all euro zone countries dropped to record lows overnight.

On Wednesday, the BOJ offered to buy a total of 430 trillion yen (\\$3.55 trillion) of JGBs, including 50 billion yen with less than one year to maturity, 240 billion yen in the 10-year to 25-year zone, and 140 billion yen in the over 25-year zone.

The yield on 10-year cash JGBs shed 5 basis points to 0.415 percent, pulling away from four-month highs touched in the previous session.

The 20-year yield fell 3.5 basis points to 1.230 percent. The 30-year yield lost 3 basis points to 1.505 percent.

The 10-year JGB futures contract added 0.50 point at 147.39.