Portuguese bond yields hit a euro-era high this morning as a perceived lack of progress on euro zone reforms to tackle the debt crisis continued to unnerve investors.
Portugal is seen as the next euro zone country most vulnerable to requiring a bail-out after Greece and Ireland. The 10-year Portuguese bond yield hit 7.66% - its highest level since the launch of the euro. Yields then dipped on reports that the European Central Bank had resumed buying bonds.
Other peripheral bond yields also rose relative to German debt on a building sense of unease over whether agreement on a comprehensive package of measures to fight the region's sovereign debt crisis would be reached by March.
Traders highlighted Portugal's five-year syndicated bond sale this week as a sign of waning investor appetite to hold the country's debt.
Peripheral euro zone debt had rallied in late January as markets grew increasingly confident European Union leaders were making progress on a deal to strengthen the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the euro zone bailout fund.
