Minutes from the Federal Reserve on Thursday showed policymakers split over the case for looser policy, putting upward pressure on yields, and Powell is due to speak at the Fed's annual Jackson Hole symposium later on Friday.

Benchmark 10-year yields rose 5 basis points on the day to peak at 0.568%, their highest since Aug. 2, taking them further away from the record low of 0.405% struck on Aug. 15.

"This is a parallel shift (to U.S. Treasuries), largely because people are becoming appraised of the fact that the Fed just is not on the market's rate trajectory. Markets are discounting far too much in the way of Fed easing," Marc Ostwald, global strategist at ADM Investor Services, said.

Two-year yields rose 4 basis points to 0.558%, their highest since July 17, and the two-year/10-year gilt curve steepened to 0.9 basis points, its steepest since it inverted for the first time last week.