"The mood music around Greece is pretty awful," a trader said. "People have enjoyed a good risk on rally for the first six weeks of the year and are now becoming rather more circumspect."

Spanish 10-year yields rose 19 basis points to 5.65 percent, the highest in a month, expanding its spread with German benchmarks by 20 bps to 381 bps. Upcoming supply of 2015 and 2019 Spanish debt also weighed on the country's debt as traders pushed for cheaper prices to make way for the new paper.

Equivalent Italian yields were up 20 bps at a one-week high of 5.94 percent.