TOKYO, April 8 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds firmed on Friday, taking cue from strong U.S. Treasuries overnight and underpinned by the Bank of Japan's buying operations.
The central bank offered to buy 220 billion yen ($2.02 billion) of JGBs in the 10- to 25-year zone and 180 billion yen in the 25- to 40-year zone under its asset purchase programme.
JGBs shrugged off the effect of buoyant Japanese equities on Friday and got a lift from the overnight performance of Treasuries. U.S. yields fell broadly on Thursday to their lowest levels since late February as oil prices skidded and fears rose about slowing global economic growth.
The benchmark 10-year yield slipped 2.5 basis points to minus 0.085 percent.
June 10-year JGB futures ended up 0.27 point at 151.65.
In the superlong zone, the 30-year JGB yield earlier rose to as high as 0.440 percent as investors locked in gains, but late in the session it was down half a basis point at 0.415 percent.
Japan's Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance said on Friday it would continue to keep yen bonds as its core assets while avoiding debt with negative yields for the fiscal year starting in April 2016.
($1 = 108.8200 yen) (Reporting by Tokyo markets team; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)