In France, a rally of a quarter to a half of a point was wiped out and the 10-year bond future finished unchanged.

In Frankfurt, the price of the 10-year bond future was was down 0.13 point at 98.39.

"We also went short bond futures or bought put options," he added.

The rise in the prices was a bit of surprise to those who traded bond futures on Friday.

In French trading, the 10-year bond future for December delivery was down 0.68 point, to 111.02.

And that is likely to limit enthusiasm among the 250 institutions and the few thousand individuals with enough cash to trade bond futures.

Many used the most common hedge against price declines, selling short an equivalent amount of bond futures in Chicago.

Dealers who purchase bonds can hedge against a possible adverse price move by selling bond futures.

After a third losing trade, in bond futures, he gave up.

Traders there also attributed the weak bond futures to the late selloff in the stock market.