Bonds: Bunds left out of ongoing reflation trade

These were the movements in some of the most widely-followed longer-term sovereign bond yields:

US: 2.50% (+2bp)

UK: 1.21% (+3bp)
Germany: 0.34% (-1bp)
France: 0.97% (+2bp)
Spain: 1.73% (+5bp)
Italy: 2.17% (+7bp)
Portugal: 3.96% (+2bp)
Greece: 7.08% (+4bp)
Japan: 0.07% (+0bp)

Longer-term Gilts were lower at the start of the week as traders took position ahead of the upcoming US jobs report for February scheduled for release on 10 March and ahead of the following week's US central bank policy meeting - amid an ongoing reflation trade globally.

Traders in fixed income markets thus apparently gave short shrift to talk of geopolitical worries following fresh missile tests by North Korea at the weekend.

German bunds on the other hand did gain, possibly as some traders eyed scope for mischief at the 15 March Dutch elections.

Symptomatic of the ongoing reflation trade, the Sentix index showed investors' confidence in the euro area economy was at a 10-year high in March, amid strong gains for the rest of geographies.

As far equities were concerned, JP Morgan's Mislav Matejka penned a note to clients on Monday, telling them said trade had further yet to run.

To take note of, Greek GDP shrank by an outsized 1.2% quarter-on-quarter over the three months to December (consensus: -0.4%), revised data show.

That, some economists said, might yet see the International Monetary Fund pull out from a nascent deal to provide the Mediterranean country's with a new tranche of financial aid.