TOKYO, March 19 Reuters Japanese government bond futures fell on Friday and most yields rose after the Bank of Japan agreed to allow benchmark yields to fluctuate in a slightly wider trading band.

The yield on 10year government bonds will be allowed to move 25 basis points above or below zero, Japans central bank said on Friday after a policy meeting. That is larger than the previous trading range of 20 basis points.

The BOJ also made some technical changes to the market operations it uses to prevent yields from rising too quickly, which means the central bank will still maintain firm control of the yield curve, according to some analysts.

There will be some slightly bigger moves, but its difficult for the market to react because the widening of the trading band was widely expected, said Hiroshi Miyazaki, a senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

The yield curve may not steepen that much, because the BOJ is sending a message that it has the ability to prevent yields from rising too quickly.

Benchmark 10year JGB futures fell 0.14 point to 150.99, with a trading volume of 13,682 lots.

The 10year JGB yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.115.

The 20year JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to 0.490.

At the long end of the yield curve, the 30year JGB yield was flat at 0.660 and the 40year JGB yield was unchanged at 0.700.

The fiveyear yield rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.090.

At the short end, the twoyear JGB yield rose 0.5 basis point to minus 0.140….