Treasuries snapped a four-day drop before a government report economists said will show U.S. new home sales in February failed to recoup losses from the previous month. Traders pared bets on inflation after data yesterday showed prices of existing homes declined in January. Demand for the safety of government debt increased as Japan struggled to contain a radiation leak, the U.S. and its allies bombed Libya, and speculation intensified that Portugal will need a bailout. “They will all hurt global economic growth,” said Kei Katayama, leader of the foreign fixed-income group in Tokyo at Daiwa SB Investments Ltd., a unit of Japan’s second-largest brokerage. “Yields will push down.” Ten-year rates slid one basis point to 3.32 percent as of 2:56 p.m. in Tokyo, according to Bloomberg Bond Trader. The price of the 3.625 percent note due in February 2021 rose 3/32, or 94 cents per $1,000 face amount, to 102 19/32. The rate climbed 14 basis points in the previous four days. The note advanced as much as 5/32 as Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average slid 1.7 percent, the first loss in three days, bolstering demand for the debt. People in the Tokyo area should avoid giving tap water to infants, a city official said in a televised conference, after traces of iodine were found as radiation at a nuclear power plant north of the capital hampered efforts to repair reactors damaged by a tsunami. To contact the reporter on this story: Wes Goodman in Singapore at wgoodman@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net.

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