UBS Asset Management Says Japan Should Stop Issuing Long Bonds to Halt Selloff

A veteran portfolio manager has some advice for Japan: To calm volatility in the country’s government bond market, stop issuing debt with maturities above 30 years.

The surge in the 40-year JGB yield to 3.675% last month, the highest since the tenor debuted in 2007, is the latest reason for Japan’s Ministry of Finance to end sales of longer-dated bonds, whose demand is dwindling due to demographic shifts in the country’s aging society, says Kevin Zhao, head of global sovereign and currency at UBS Asset Management.