LONDON: Euro zone government bond yields edged up in calmer trading on Wednesday, after a rout across global equities earlier in the week petered out, though benchmark yields were still near their lowest for the year.

An index of bond market volatility has hit its highest level since the start of the year, reflecting the turbulence this week.

German 10-year Bund yields, the benchmark for the euro zone bloc, rose 3.6 basis point to 2.22%, while yields on the two-year Schatz, which are more sensitive to shifts in rate expectations, were up 4 bps at 2.405%.

Yields on both were near their lowest since January.

“As the data calendar remains empty, Bunds and spreads will probably remain highly directional to equity markets or the Japanese yen,” Commerzbank rates strategist Hauke Siemssen said. Italian 10-year yields, which many use as a proxy for the euro zone’s more indebted members, rose 2 bps to 3.676%, leaving the premium over German Bunds a 1.3 bps wider at 144.5 bps.

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Two-year euro zone swap spreads, which can act as a gauge of investor risk aversion, tightened for a third day to their narrowest since Aug 1, at around 32 bps.

The spread had risen to its widest since mid June on Friday, as a selloff in equities accelerated.