TOKYO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Japan's government bond (JGB) yields were almost flat on Monday as investors struggled to find market-moving cues at home and abroad, especially with the U.S. markets closed for a public holiday.
The 10-year JGB yield edged up 0.5 basis points (bps) to 0.73%. The 20-year JGB yield also inched up 0.5 bps to 1.51%.
"The U.S. markets are closed later in the day and we saw little cues in Japan either, so the market was making a range-bound move," said Katsutoshi Inadome, a senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management.
U.S. markets are closed on Monday for the Presidents' Day holiday.
At the shorter end of the curve, the yield on one-year treasury bills turned positive at an auction for the first time in almost in a decade, a sign that investors bet the Bank of Japan's exit from its negative rate policy is imminent.
"The outcome means that one-year treasury bills could become an attractive target for Japan's major banks," said Inadome, adding that this was the first positive yield at the auction since October 2014.
The yield at the lowest-accepted price was 0.0468%, while it was 0.0129% at the average price.
The two-year JGB yield rose 0.5 bps to 0.145% and the five-year yield rose 0.5 bps to 0.350%.
The 30-year JGB yield was flat at 1.775% and the 40-year JGB yield was also flat at 1.995%. (Reporting by Junko Fujita; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
