Australian bond yields hit record low as investors panic buy

Yields on Australian bonds have hit a record low after a wave of investors sold out of German bunds and other debt and flocked to what is seen as one of the few remaining safe havens.

The yield on benchmark Australian 10-year bonds touched 3.806% yesterday, below the previous record set in January 2009 after Lehman Brothers' collapse froze credit markets. By late afternoon Friday Australian bonds were yielding 3.85%, slightly above the record low. The move to a record low came before Italian bond yields spiked to a new record euro-era high Friday. The rate of interest for a tranche of new Italian bonds due to be repaid in six months was 6.504%, compared with 3.535% in the last comparable sale on 26 October, the BBC reported. The rate for two-year borrowing wa...