U.S. sovereign bond prices fell in fickle trade ahead of Tuesday's close, following Monday's surge on the back of volatility in stock markets.
On Tuesday, benchmark 10-year Treasury notes yields rose to 1.736 percent after briefly dipping below 1.7 percent, near a 1-year low. (Bond yields move inversely to prices: CNBC Explains.)
Thirty-year bonds yielded 2.561 percent on Tuesday, having closed around 2.56 percent.
The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $24 billion in 3-year notes at a high yield of 0.844 percent. The bid-to-cover ratio, an indicator of demand, was 2.74, versus a recent average of 3.17.
Direct bidders, which includes domestic money managers, bought 15 percent, versus a recent average of 12 percent. Indirect bidders, which include major central banks, were awarded 41.5 percent, well below the 50 percent average.
"Demand for this auction was relatively soft as the buyside didn't show up with the same bid as the last few months," Jefferies economists Ward McCarthy and Thomas Simons wrote in a note.
U.S. stocks indexes held lower Tuesday afternoon as oil prices fell more than 3 percent.
