The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds retreated to below 0.1% after the Bank of Japan offered for the second time in a week to buy unlimited bonds and lowered the rate at which it agreed to purchase them, the Financial Times reported.

Yields were at 0.096% as of 3:12 a.m. ET on July 27, after reaching more than 0.1% for most of the day.

The retreat comes after the central bank offered to buy an unlimited amount of bonds at a fixed rate of 0.1%, down 1 basis point from a previous offer earlier in the week of July 23. The prior offer failed to produce any sellers as yields subsided fractionally afterward, the FT said.

The special bond-buying operation comes amid lingering speculation that the central bank is looking into tweaking its ultra-loose policy to reduce the side-effects of the stimulus program on its lenders. Its policy board will next meet July 30 to July 31, having left rates unchanged at the latest meeting in mid-June.

The yen was up 0.14% against the dollar as of 3:51 a.m. ET.