TOKYO, April 6 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds mostly slipped on Wednesday, though the Bank of Japan's buying operations kept losses in check.
The central bank offered to buy 350 billion yen ($3.17 billion) of JGBs in the 1- to 3-year zone, 440 billion yen of JGBs in the 3- to 5-year zone, and 450 billion yen of JGBs in the 5- to 10-year zone, under its asset purchase programme.
The benchmark 10-year yield added half a basis point to minus 0.065 percent.
June 10-year JGB futures inched down 0.06 point to end at 151.49.
In the superlong zone, where the BOJ did not buy on Wednesday, the 30-year JGB yield added 3.5 basis points to 0.455 percent.
Expectations of further monetary policy easing also underpinned JGBs. BOJ policymakers will likely debate the possibility of easing further at their rate review later this month, as recently downbeat economic data has failed to reinforce their expectations that a moderate economic recovery would lift inflation towards their 2 percent target, sources familiar with BOJ thinking said.
A decision on whether to ease at the April 27-28 meeting will be a close call, as many BOJ officials are wary of using their limited policy tools again so soon.
($1 = 110.3800 yen) (Reporting by Tokyo markets team; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)