TOKYO, March 13 (Reuters) - Japanese government bonds rallied on Monday, sending the benchmark 10-year yield to a nearly three-month low, as investors flocked to the safest assets amid jitters over the fallout from Silicon Valley Bank's collapse.
The 10-year JGB yield was down 7 basis points (bps) at 0.320% as of 0505 GMT, reaching its lowest level since the Dec. 20 Bank of Japan policy meeting, when officials unexpectedly lifted the yield ceiling to 0.5%.
Ten-year JGB futures rose 0.55 yen to 146.7.
Superlong yields also dropped by sizeable amounts, with the 20-year yield down 8 bps at a three-month low of 1.125% and the 30-year yield off 7 bps at 1.320%, its lowest since early October.
The big pullback came as Japan's stock market sold off and following the slides in U.S. Treasury yields, particularly among longer maturities, over the weekend after SVB became the biggest bank failure since the global financial crisis.
"It's a simple flight to quality reaction in Tokyo markets," said Naomi Muguruma, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
Muguruma said superlong yields were under additional pressure from buying by life insurers and other investors into the fiscal year-end this month to meet regulatory requirements.
Meanwhile, the five-year JGB yield eased 1.5 bps to a one-month low of 0.175%.
The two-year note had yet to trade, and last yielded -0.035%. (Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
