Bank of Japan's record $81-billion bond buy brings calm to market

Tokyo’s bond market began the week on a much calmer footing as traders mulled unprecedented intervention by the Bank of Japan, which dragged benchmark yields back below their closely watched ceiling.

Ten-year yields edged higher to 0.23% Monday in the aftermath of the BOJ’s 10.9 trillion yen ($81 billion) of government bond purchases last week, the most on record, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The central bank ramped up bond buying as benchmark yields breached its 0.25% tolerated limit amid a global debt selloff.

By way of comparison, European Central Bank asset purchases under its so-called APP program averaged about $27 billion