The Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes weakened, and the market response began to show that Naoya Hasegawa, head of bond strategy at Okada Securities, said the possibility of the Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes later this month weakened. The market made a preliminary reaction to the results of the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election, which was manifested in buying medium-term bonds and selling ultra-long-term bonds, resulting in a steeper yield curve. <br /> The market's previous expectation of the Bank of Japan's rate hike to 0.75% is more than 60%, but it is expected that the probability will drop below 50% next week. The recent market expectations for the Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes have heated up because the market expects Shinjiro Koizumi to be elected, and Bank of Japan member Asahi Noguchi sent a hawkish signal. </p>