Credit: REUTERS/YURIKO K NAKAOTOKYO, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond (JGB) prices were steady to slightly firmer on Tuesday, taking positive cues from a well-received 10-year debt auction amid an escalating U.S.-China trade dispute.
The 10-year JGB yield JP10YTN=JBTC was unchanged at minus 0.270%, ending a two-day gain.
The 10-year yield had been nudging higher as the Bank of Japan trimmed the amount of bonds it buys at its regular market operations in an attempt to stop the yield heading towards a record low.
The 20-year JP20YTN=JBTC yield declined 1 basis point to 0.045%, crawling back near a three-year trough of 0.040% set last week.
The bid-to-cover ratio, a gauge of demand, at Tuesday's 2.1 trillion yen ($19.93 billion) 10-year JGB auction slipped to 3.60 from 3.84 at the previous sale last month, but it was still comfortably above 2.0, a level dealers consider as satisfactory.
($1 = 105.3900 yen)
(Reporting by the Tokyo markets team, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
((shinichi.saoshiro@thomsonreuters.com; +813-6441-1774))
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