— BOJ: Q1 Non-Japanese JGB Holdings +23.0% Y/Y; Q4 +37.2%
— BOJ: End-Mar Fncl Firm JGB Holdings Y612 Trln; Q4 Y601 Trln
— BOJ: End-Mar Fncl Firm JGB Holding Share 66.6%; 65.3% End-Dec
— BOJ: End-Mar Japan Household Assets +0.7% Y/Y at Y1,513 Trln
— BOJ: End-Mar Household JGB Holdings -11.1% Y/Y at Y28 Trln

TOKYO (MNI) – The balance of Japanese government bonds held by
non-residents stood at Y76 trillion at the end of March, or 8.3% of the
Y919 trillion in outstanding JGBs, down from a record high of Y78
trillion, or 8.5%, marked at the end of December 2011, quarterly Bank of
Japan data released Tuesday showed.

The data also showed that overseas investor holdings of JGBs rose
only 23.0% from a year earlier, with the pace of growth decelerating
from a 37.2% rise at the end of December.

The share of long-term JGB holdings by non-residents fell in the
first quarter, when they seemed to have shortened the duration of those
holdings, a BOJ official said.

Meanwhile, the balance of JGBs held by domestic financial
institutions at the end of March posted a record high of Y612 trillion,
up from Y601 trillion at the end of December.

The data also showed that liabilities held by non-financial firms
at the end of March stood at Y874 trillion, up from Y854 trillion at the
end of December, which was the first time since end-March 1987 that the
balance had fallen below Y1,000 trillion.

The following is a table detailing major components for the BOJ’s
quarterly flow of funds data. All figures are preliminary.

1)Balance of JGBs End-Mar Y/Y Chg End-Dec Y/Y Chg
held by non-residents: Pct Chg Pct Chg
Y76 trln +23.0% Y78 trln +37.2%
Share of
Total JGBs: 8.3% 8.5%

2)Balance of JGBs End-Mar. Y/Y Chg End-Dec Y/Y Chg
held by domestic fncl firms: Pct Chg Pct Chg
Y612 trln +5.6% Y601 trln +2.3%
Share of
Total JGBs: 66.8% 65.3%

3)Value of financial assets End-Mar Y/Y Chg End-Dec Y/Y Chg
held by Japanese households Pct Chg Pct Chg
Y1,513 trln +0.7% Y1,500 trln -0.5%

4)Value of cash and deposits
Held by Japanese households
End-Mar Y/Y Chg End-Dec Y/Y Chg
Pct Chg Pct Chg
Y835 trln +2.3% Y839 trln +2.2%

5)Value of foreign currency denominated deposits held by Japanese
households

End-Mar Y/Y Change End-Dec Y/Y Change
Pct Chg Pct Chg
Y5.79 trln +3.5% Y5.59 trln +4.0%

6)Value of JGBs held by Japanese households

End-Mar Y/Y Change End-Dec Y/Y Change
Pct Chg Pct Chg
Y27.7 trln -11.1% Y28.5 trln -13.7%

7) Balance of fncl liabilities held by government

End-Mar Y/Y Change End-Dec Y/Y Change
Pct Chg Pct Chg
Y1,099 trln +4.8% Y1,099 trln +4.5%

tokyo@marketnews.com
** MNI Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4833 **

[TOPICS: M$J$$$,M$A$$$,MMJBJ$,MAJDS$]