text: Italy tops week of meagre bond returns - Salomon . LONDON 1996-12-06 High-flying Italy topped the league in a week of meagre returns on government bonds , Salomon Brothers said on Friday . In local currency terms , Italian BTPs offered returns of 0.85 percent in the week ended on Thursday , with fellow high-yielder Sweden close behind on 0.80 percent . The weekly government bond index rose 0.07 percent in local currency terms . France managed third place with 0.68 percent in the 16-nation world government bond index . Canada 's were the worst performing bonds . They lost 2.21 percent , depressed by a wave of new Canadian supply . Returns on Treasuries were also in negative territory at minus 0.24 percent , the poorest result after Canada and British gilts which lost 0.28 percent . Australia was the only dollar-bloc country in the table to eke out a positive return , albeit a paltry 0.02 percent . German Bunds were not much better , offering returns of 0.05 percent , while Japanese government bonds managed a 0.38 percent gain . Spanish bonds , which had been top performers in Salomon Brothers ' league table for November as a whole , turned in a more subdued weekly performance with a return of only 0.27 percent . In U.S. dollar terms , Japan was the only country to give positive returns at 1.35 percent . France lost 0.37 percent , followed by Italy on minus 0.59 percent . The biggest losers in dollar terms were British gilts , which shed 3.41 percent , Canada with minus 3.03 percent and Australia at minus 1.54 percent . Salomon 's bond index is calculated using all government bonds with over one year to maturity , weighted for market capitalisation . Only bonds freely available to institutional investors and with a certain minimum amount outstanding are included . Returns take account of price moves and accrued interest . -- Stephen Nisbet , International Bonds +44 171 6320