JGB yields rise, tracking Treasury peers after Moody's US downgrade

TOKYO, May 19 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond (JGB) yields rose on Monday, tracking a surge in U.S. Treasury yields after ratings agency Moody's downgraded the U.S. government rating.

The 10-year JGB yield JP10YTN=JBTC rose 2.5 basis points to 1.475%.

The two-year JGB yield JP2YTN=JBTC rose 1 bp to 0.715% and the five-year yield JP5YTN=JBTC rose 1.5 bps to 0.995%.

"Today's yields simply mirrored a move of U.S. Treasury yields," said Naoya Hasegawa, chief bond strategist at Okasan Securities.

"The U.S. bond yields rose on Friday, and surged in Asia trade on Monday, which prompted a further sell-off of JGB futures," he said.

The 10-year JGB futures 2JGBv1 fell to 139.22, after opening at 139.37 on Monday. Futures prices typically move inversely to JGB yields.

U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday after being down for most of the session, after Moody's downgraded the U.S. government rating from AAA to AA1, saying the fiscal performance is likely to deteriorate. US/

In Asia trade on Monday, the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds US10YT=RR rose as much as 8 bps to 4.591%, while the yield on 30-year Treasury notes US30YT=RR jumped nearly 10 bps to 5%.

Sentiment is also weighed down by an auction of the 20-year Japanese bonds in the next session, strategists said.

The 20-year JGB yield JP20YTN=JBTC rose 1 bp to 2.385% and the 30-year JGB yield JP30YTN=JBTC rose 1 bp to 2.965%.

The 40-year JGB yield JP40YTN=JBTC fell 1 bp to 3.445%.