Japan's 10-year bond yield hits near 15-year high after US inflation data

TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Japan's 10-year government bond yield hit a near 15-year high on Thursday, after U.S. Treasury yields rose on stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation, while investors braced for an early interest hike by the Bank of Japan as the yen weakened.

The 10-year JGB yield JP10YTN=JBTC touched 1.37%, its highest since April 2010, earlier in the session. It was last at 1.355%, up 1.5 basis points from the previous session.

"The market turned cautious about the BOJ's interest rate hike as U.S. yields rose and the yen weakened," said Takafumi Yamawaki, head of Japan rates research at J.P. Morgan Securities.

U.S. Treasury yields bounced on Wednesday after inflation in the world's largest economy came in stronger than expected last month, reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve is likely to pause its rate-cutting cycle for an extended period. US/

The U.S. dollar jumped to a one-week high against the Japanese yen overnight. FRX/

A weaker yen puts upward pressure on import costs, driving bets on the BOJ's interest rate hike.

The five-year yield JP5YTN=JBTC rose to 1.02%, its highest since October 2008, and was last flat at 1%.

The two-year JGB yield JP2YTN=JBTC rose to 0.805%, its highest since October 2008, and was last at 0.79%, down 0.5 bp.

The 20-year JGB yield JP20YTN=JBTC rose 2 bps to 2.015% and the 30-year JGB yield JP30YTN=JBTC rose 2 bps to 2.32%.