Bunds jump, European shares fall on German data

LONDON: German Bund futures extended gains to a one-week high on Thursday while European shares fell after data showed the German manufacturing sector contracted in March for the first time this year.

Germany's manufacturing sector shrank on the back of falling new orders, raising concern over its resilience to the euro zone crisis and overshadowing optimism at the approval of Greece's bailout package.

The June Bund future rose to 137.14, up 81 ticks on the day. It was trading around 136.64 just before the data.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index extended losses to 0.8 percent, hitting a fresh one-week low of 1,083.43. Implied volatility on Euro STOXX 50 - a crude gauge of risk aversion - rose to a one-week high of 22.2.