Euro-area bonds fall

Euro-area government bonds fell for a second day as investor demand waned before sovereign-bond auctions and amid a lack of information on the scope of the European Central Bank’s asset-purchase plan.  Yields climbed as sovereigns from Austria to Italy take advantage of rates near record lows to auction a combined 15.5 billion euros ($20 billion) of bonds this week. The yield on Italy’s 10-year bonds headed for its biggest two-day jump in more than a month and Germany’s climbed to a two-week high. While the ECB unexpectedly announced a plan to buy privately owned securities on Sept. 4, details of the purchases will not be revealed until after the October rate-setting meeting. Italy’s 10-year yield rose five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 2.35 per cent at 11:47 a.m. London time, after also rising five basis points yesterday. The yield slid to 2.253 per cent on Sept. 5, the least since Bloomberg began collecting the data in 1993. The 3.75 per cent security due September 2024 declined 0.455, or 4.55 euros per 1,000-euro face amount, to 112.535, according to bloomberg.com