Japan's central bank broke its record for the most Japanese government bonds purchased in a month in January, as it tries to suppress a rise in interest rates.

The Bank of Japan has purchased government bonds worth about 16.24 trillion yen, or roughly 126 billion dollars, so far this month. That exceeds the previous monthly record of about 16.20 trillion yen marked in June of last year.

The BOJ bought bonds worth about 4.6 trillion yen last Thursday, and more than 5.8 trillion yen on Friday. Market sources say those figures set a single-day record.

The bank bought about 2.1 trillion yen of bonds on Monday, including extraordinary purchases, marking a new monthly record.

The central bank will start its two-day policy meeting on Tuesday. Upward pressure on long-term interest rates is growing on the view that the bank may further tweak its massive monetary easing policy following an adjustment last month.