The Bank of Japan purchased a record 3.5 trillion yen ($32 billion) in treasury bills today as the central bank pushes forward with unprecedented monetary easing to reach its 2 percent inflation target.

The amount exceeded the previous records of 3 trillion yen on Aug. 22 and Aug. 1. The BOJ also scooped up 530 billion yen in government bonds from the market today as part of its 7 trillion yen in monthly debt buying, which has drained the availability of sovereign bills and bonds for investors.

“That was a big treasury bill operation,” said Toshiaki Terada, a researcher at Totan Research Co., a money-market brokerage in Tokyo. “The banks were wanting to sell, so that’s probably why the BOJ increased its buying.”

Japan’s three-month treasury bills traded with yields at minus 0.02 percent as of 10:23 a.m. in Tokyo, while the one-year bill yield was at negative 0.005 percent, according to Japan Bond Trading Co. The two-year note yield fell half a basis point to 0.06 percent, the lowest since Sept. 26. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point.

Bloomberg