Italian, Spanish bond yields rise

LONDON: Italian and Spanish government bond yields rose on Thursday as investors continued to reduce their holdings of peripheral debt after a Spanish debt auction in the previous session saw weaker-than-expected demand.

"Our feeling is that both have come a long way and there's a few short-term profit takers, and also volumes have substantially reduced and any selling is having an aggravated effect on the market," a trader said, adding he had not seen any large-scale selling in either country.

Ten-year Italian government bond yields rose 13 basis points on the day to 4.59 percent, while equivalent Spanish bonds yielded 5.53 percent, 10 basis points more than in the previous session.