Bond market focus is on data out of the United States, with a Reuters poll expecting retail sales to have fallen 0.2% month-on-month in July from a 0.6% increase in June
The end-April negative-yield bonds accounted for almost 60% of a total market worth roughly 8.9 trillion euros, the lowest share since May last year.
Germany's benchmark 10-year Bund yield was last trading at -0.23%. Last week it rose almost 6 basis points in its biggest weekly rise in more than two months.
IHS Markit's flash Composite PMI Index, seen as a good guide to economic health, rose to 53.7 from March's 53.2, confounding expectations in a Reuters poll for a dip to 52.8.
Germany's 10-year government bond yield, the benchmark of the euro area, fell 1 basis point at -0.27%.
That pushed US Treasury yields higher across the curve on Friday, and as much as 6 basis points on five-year Treasuries.
"Thanks to yesterday's decline in US Treasury yields, any upward pressure on Bund yields stemming from spillover effects is likely to be limited," UniCredit analysts told clients.
The number of new confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany rose the most since Jan. 9, while the number of people with COVID-19 in French intensive care units set a high for 2021.
US Treasury yields were flat in London trading after dipping on Wednesday, when the Treasury saw average demand at an auction of five-year notes.
After major benchmarks on Monday marked their best daily performance since June 2020, euro area bonds calmed on Tuesday. Germany's 10-year yields, the benchmark for the region, rose 2 basis points to -0.32% at 1140 GMT.
Southern European bonds came under renewed pressure, with Italian bonds underperforming. The 10-year yield rose 4 basis points to 0.71%.
Ten-year gilt yields rose to 0.835%, 4 basis points up on the day, after Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane warned that an inflationary "tiger" might be on the loose which could require more BoE action than markets expect.
Five-year gilt yields also rose to their highest since March 2020 at 0.413% and their spread over German five-year bonds widened above 93 basis points , also the widest since March 2020.
German benchmark 10-year bond yields, which had followed Treasuries higher but then retraced much of their rise on Thursday, were down about 1 basis point on Friday to -0.55pc
Yields on perceived safe-haven German government bonds for 10-year maturities fell more than 5 bps to -0.627pc, the lowest since mid-March. Yields have fallen nearly 10 bps this week.
The governor of Texas paused the state's reopening as COVID-19 infections and admissions to hospital surged and the United States set a record for a one-day increase in cases .
Morale among Italian businesses and consumers rose in June, data showed, as the country recovered from the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.