South Korea’s 10-year government bonds posted the biggest monthly rally in almost a year as slowing growth in the nation’s largest export market prompted investors to seek the relative safety of sovereign debt.

Manufacturing in China in February may have contracted for the second straight month, according to a preliminary gauge released by HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics on Feb. 20 before official figures are released tomorrow.

South Korea’s industrial output shrank 3.8 percent in January from a year earlier, compared with the 1.8 percent drop forecast in a Bloomberg survey, data showed today. The Bank of Korea held its key rate at 2.5 percent at a Feb. 13 meeting.

The yield on the government’s 3.375 percent bonds due September 2023 fell 12 basis points, or 0.12 percentage point, this month to 3.5 percent at the close in Seoul, according to Korea Exchange Inc. prices.

That’s the biggest drop in yields for benchmark 10-year debt since March 2013. (Bloomberg)