The normally sedate Japanese government bond (JGB) market has attracted global attention in recent weeks as a surge in yields sounded warnings for deeply indebted governments. Yields on super-long JGBs touched record levels last month,

Japanese bond futures slipped after the central bank held rates steady and said it would slow its tapering of government bond buying from the start of the next fiscal year.

The Japanese central bank held its policy rate unchanged at 0.5%, the level it has been at since the last hike in January. BOJ Gov. Kazuo Ueda has said the bank will continue to seek further interest-rate increases,