NEW YORK: US Treasuries prices rose on Thursday, getting a lift from weak global equity markets and breaking a long slide in prices that had pushed yields on 30-year bonds to more than 3 percent for the first time this year.
Gains were best among long maturities, with prices for 30-year Treasuries jumping more than 1 full point as European bond yields eased from peaks reached earlier in the day.
The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 nations, was off 0.28 percent, while Wall Street traded higher after a weak opening.
"We are seeing a bit of a risk-off trade in equities that is translated into some buying of Treasuries," said Donald Ellenberger, strategist and portfolio manager at Federated Investors in Pittsburgh.
Pull-backs in German and other European government bond yields from early peaks were also likely benefiting Treasuries, Ellenberger said.
Yields on benchmark German 10-year Bunds went as high 0.796 percent on Thursday before easing to 0.606 percent as a worldwide bond market rout moderated.
"That could be a near-term peak in German yields," Ellenberger said.
"If that is a signal Bunds are going to stabilize in the near term, that would be another reason to take some pressure off the long end of our market."
Treasuries also benefited from Japanese investors returning to the market after a holiday and the absence of big bond deals by Apple Inc and others, which had prompted selling of Treasuries earlier this week, according to traders.
The 10-year note was last up 7/32 and yielding 2.2124 percent.
The 30-year's yield was 2.9431 percent, reflecting a 26/32 price increase, and earlier was as high as 3.038 percent.
Treasuries reacted little to government data showing the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose marginally last week, staying near a 15-year low.
The data signaled a continued strengthening in the US jobs market ahead of Friday's April employment report, which often drives big price changes in bonds and could be critical to Federal Reserve policymakers readying to end an era of near-zero interest rates.
"If we continue to see the employment rate go down, that could pull forward the beginning of the Fed tightening cycle," Ellenberger said.
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