China offloads Japanese govt debt

Japan’s Ministry of Finance said China sold a net 177.3 billion yen (US$2.15 billion) worth of Japanese government bonds in December, Bloomberg reported. The exchange value of the yen and benchmark Japanese government debt both fell in November, and Beijing decided to take a profit by selling Japanese short-term notes. The yen dropped 3.9% against the dollar in November, its first decline since last spring. Yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds climbed 26.5 basis points in the same month, the biggest surge since April 2008. The UK was the biggest buyer of Japanese securities in December, while France was the largest net seller.