TOKYO, July 18 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds rose on Tuesday, aided by gains in U.S. and European bonds and also benefiting from an assurance from the Bank of Japan earlier this month to curb a rise in their yields.

The 10-year JGB futures edged up 0.14 point to 150.17 , while the yield on the benchmark 10-year cash JGBs dipped 0.5 basis point to 0.070 percent, its lowest since June 30.

The market found support from the rise in U.S. bonds during the long weekend in Japan, following soft U.S. inflation and retail sales data on Friday. Japanese financial markets were closed on Monday for a public holiday.

Earlier this month, the BOJ increased buying in JGBs and conducted a special operation to curb the rise in JGB yields, showing its strong commitment to keep the 10-year yield around zero percent.

In its buying of five- to ten-year JGBs on Tuesday, the BOJ kept the size of its purchases at the increased level of 500 billion yen, compared with 450 billion yen in previous months. (Reporting by Tokyo Markets Team; Editing by Sunil Nair)