LONDON - Euro zone government bond yields edged down on Monday, with benchmark ‍10-year German ‍Bund yields holding below recent nine-month highs in trade ​thinned by the holiday season.

That move followed a decline in U.S. ⁠Treasury yields on Friday, when markets across much of Europe were closed.

In ⁠early trade, ‌most 10-year bond yields across the euro area were down about 2-3 basis points (bps) as their ⁠prices rose.

Germany's 10-year Bund yield fell almost 3 bps to around 2.84%, holding below nine-month highs touched last week. There was some focus on Ukraine. U.S. President Donald Trump said on ⁠Sunday that he and ​Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy were moving closer to an agreement to end the war ‍in Ukraine but acknowledged that the fate of the Donbas region remained an ​unresolved issue.

Investors in European bond markets also have one eye on the Netherlands as a new year approaches. The Dutch occupational pension system, the European Union's largest, will start the transition to a new system from January 1, allowing the nearly 2 trillion euro ($2.35 trillion) sector to buy riskier assets.

This could add to pressure on long-term government bonds that already face reduced demand ⁠from big buyers such as central banks ‌and other pension funds.

The German 10-year bond yield is on track to end the year about 50 bps higher, ‌set ⁠for its biggest one-year rise since 2022 when inflation across major economies ⁠surged.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe Editing by David Goodman)