BOJ’s unrealized bond loss widens to 8.8 tril. yen as yields jump

The Bank of Japan’s unrealized loss on its government bond holdings increased to about 8.8 trillion yen ($68 billion) at the end of December, after it decided to widen the yield trading band for 10-year Japanese government bonds, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said Friday.

The loss was roughly 10 times larger than the end of September when it stood at 874.9 billion yen, as government bond yields rose on expectations that the BOJ would tighten its monetary policy.

The revelation underscores the challenge facing the central bank, which owns about half of outstanding state debt to keep borrowing costs ...