Japan, the worst-performing market, is followed by Sweden at 1.85 percent and Switzerland at 1.91 percent. U.S. bonds are up 1.92 percent.
Auction Demand
Efforts by governments to curb spending mean that this year's 7.3 percent growth in debt outstanding, as measured by Bank of America's Global Sovereign Broad Market Plus Index, compares with 10 percent last year, 18 percent in 2010 and 25 percent in 2009.
Some governments are finding it easier to sell bonds. Investors bid a record $3.17 for each dollar of the $1.79 trillion in notes and bonds sold by the U.S. Treasury this year, compared with $3.04 in 2011 and $2.99 in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Portugal, shut out of bond markets for more than a year as it relies on aid to stay solvent, is considering a private placement after visiting investors, Joao Moreira Rato, chairman of the nation's Lisbon-based debt agency told Bloomberg News last month.
Demand will persist for sovereign debt, Jeffrey Caughron, an associate partner at Baker Group LP in Oklahoma City, which advises community banks on investments exceeding $42 billion, said in a Nov. 1 telephone interview.
"There's still room for the healthy countries and those enacting responsible policies to continue to issue any debt."