LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - German Bund yields hit their highest level in a month on Wednesday as a trickle of risk sentiment flowed back into the market, pushing oil prices and stocks higher and reducing the need for safe-haven government debt.
While a raft of countries announced new curbs and travel restrictions to stem the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant, dashing hopes for a quick recovery in 2022, markets rebounded a little from the pessimism of recent days.
Germany's 10-year Bund yields, a benchmark for the euro zone, dropped as low as -0.40% earlier this week but are comfortably above that level at -0.294%, their highest since late November. Yields move inversely to price.
"It took only a few minutes before 10-year Bund yields were rejected below -0.4%, underlining that it takes more than the broadening lockdown measures in Europe to sustain a year-end rally beyond this level," said Christoph Rieger, head of rates at Commerzbank.
A number of European Central Bank officials have been making hawkish comments, suggesting that pandemic-era bond purchases could unwind sooner rather than later, potentially pushing yields higher.
Rieger warned, however, that rising COVID-19 infections in some parts of the United States could once again send investors retreating into government bonds if the jump hampers economic growth in the world's largest economy.
Elsewhere in the euro zone, government bond yields were largely higher on Wednesday in thin trading, their second straight day of rises.
Italy's 10-year bond yield hit a four-week high of 1.067%, up four basis points (bps) after having risen seven bps in the previous session. The ECB has concluded bond purchases for the year, potentially resulting in some volatile trading.
(Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; Editing by David Holmes, Bernadette Baum and Paul Simao)
