Japan will sell 1.9 trillion yen ($17.4 billion) of 10-year bonds tomorrow, part of plans this year

Japan will sell 1.9 trillion yen ($17.4 billion) of 10-year bonds tomorrow, part of plans this year to issue almost 23 trillion yen of securities due in 10 years. It will also sell about 100 billion yen of 10-year inflation-linked notes on Thursday. France and Canada plan auctions in coming days. The outlook for deflation in Japan may boost the appeal of longer-dated debt, said Michael Derks, chief global strategist in London at Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Consumer prices excluding fresh food fell 0.1 percent in January from a year earlier, the government said Friday. Consumer prices have risen in only one month from the year- before level since April 1998. The Bank of Japan's nine-member policy board predicted in October that consumer prices will fall 0.4 percent in the current fiscal year ending March 31, and slip 0.3 percent next fiscal year. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note this year has fallen 14 basis points, or 0.14 percentage point to 1.24 percent on Friday. The auction comes after a sale of 30-year bonds last week drew the smallest amount of bids since May 2000 as the Finance Ministry cut the coupon to 2 percent, the lowest since an auction in July.