Bonds: Gilts, Greek bonds outperform

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

US: 2.21% (-2bp)
UK: 1.03% (-4bp)
Germany: 0.25% (+1bp)
France: 0.94% (+1bp)
Spain: 1.70% (-1bp)
Italy: 2.26% (-1bp)
Greece: 6.64% (-8bp)
Portugal: 3.74% (-3bp)
Japan: 0.02% (-0bp)

Gilts outperformed at the end of the week following a much weaker than expected set of data for UK retail sales figures for the month of March.

Retail sales volumes fell by 1.4% quarter-on-quarter and by 1.8% on the month (consensus: -0.5%), according to ONS, as gains in shop prices continued to accelerate.

It was the first quarterly drop since the last quarter of 2013, with ONS attributing the decline to broad-based price increases, with average store prices ahead by 3.3% in annual terms, its quickest clip since March 2012.

The data was published ahead of a preliminary reading on UK GDP in the first which was expected to reveal a slowdown to a quarterly pace of expansion of 0.4% from 0.7% over the last three months of 2016, according to IHS Markit.

In the background, the MPC's Michael Saunders told an audience he expected UK GDP growth and CPI to exceed the BoE's latest forecasts, made in February, in the near-term.

Most market commentary interpreted that as possibly flagging a change towards a more 'hawkish' stance from the rate-setter at the MPC's next meeting.

Price action in the States was broadly similar, with traders pushing longer-dated Treasuries higher following a weak-than-expected reading on Markit's manufacturing sector PMI for March.

The survey compiler said the latest reading was consistent with a fall in the monthly pace of non-farm payrolls to 100,000 and a slowdown in economic growth in the second quarter, although there is good reason to expect activity to pick-up in coming months.

Likewise, a top central bank official sounded a positive note on the economy.

Speaking to CNBC, Federal Reserve vice-president Stanley Fischer said he expected to see a rebound in US GDP in the second quarter, with the expansion meeting forecasts throughout the rest of the year.

In all things Greece, speaking on Friday afternoon IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said her meeting with the country's finance minister, Euclid Tsakaloto, was "constructive".

"I met today with Minister Tsakalotos and his team. We had constructive discussions in preparation for the return of the mission to discuss the two legs of the Greece program: policies and debt relief."