An impasse in US budget talks was also supportive for safe-haven German bonds, but gains were limited as an upbeat Chinese manufacturing survey in November underpinned equity markets.

A senior government official said Athens would unveil the terms of the deal on Monday before a meeting of euro zone finance ministers.

German Bund futures rose 12 ticks on the day to 142.91.

"Ultimately if this were to go through... then it should be positive for risk sentiment and could weigh on Bunds a little bit but initially markets may still focus on the risk of some hiccups there and that would support Bunds together with the stalemate in the US fiscal cliff debate," Rainer Guntermann, a strategist at Commerzbank said.

"The uncertainty (regarding Greece) will probably persist over the next few days."