Bonds: Banks' capital requirements will not increase further, supervisor says

These were the movements in the most widely-followed 10-year sovereign bond yields:

US: 1.79% (+4bp)

UK: 1.44% (+1bp)

Germany: 0.27% (+3bp)

France: 0.65% (+4bp)

Italy: 1.62% (+2bp)

Spain: 1.75% (+3bp)

Portugal: 3.54% (+1bp)

Greece: 11.1% (-22bp)

Japan: 0.03% (-6bp)

Yields backed-up across almost all geographies on Tuesday save in Greece and Japan after a top US central bank official appeared to wave-off the possibility of a second rate hike in March, although he did not dismiss the possibility of another tightening move later in the first half of 2016.

Speaking at the University of Delaware, the president of the Federal Reserve bank of Philadelphia, Patrick Harker, said "it might prove prudent to wait until the inflation data are stronger before we undertake a second rate hike. I am approaching near-term policy a bit more cautiously than I did a few months ago."

Against that backdrop, ONS reported that consumer prices advanced at a 0.3% year-on-year pace in January, a slightly quicker clip than the 0.2% rise seen in the month before and in-line with economists' forecasts.

"An absence of significant inflationary pressure, coupled with worries about market volatility and the global economy seen so far this year lead us to think that the Bank of England is in no hurry to raise interest rates," Investec's Chris Hare said in a research report sent to clients.

To take note of, in the afternoon the chair of the European Central Bank's supervisory arm, Daniel Nouy, reportedly said that banks' capital requirements had reached a "steady state" and that lenders could count on them staying at then current levels.

“All other things equal, capital requirements will not be increased further,” Nouy said.

Not to lose sight of, the German Constitutional Court held a public hearing on Tuesday regarding the legality of the ECB's so-called programme of Outright Monetary Transactions.

Unveiled in 2012, the OMT, which allows the ECB to purchase short-term Eurozone government debt subject to 'conditionality' - was credited by some analysts with helping to break the persistent doubts about the willingness of the ECB to do "all that it takes" to keep the currency bloc from fragmenting.