LONDON, April 25 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields held

steady near multi-month highs on Thursday after recent data

suggested the European economy is picking up, and Spain's bonds

traded largely in line with German peers after its prime

minister suspended public duties.

Germany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for

the euro zone, was down 0.8 basis points (bps) to 2.58%. It

reached 2.599% in early trading, matching the previous day's

five month high.

The main economic data release of the day is U.S. GDP data

for the first quarter.

Spain's 10 year yield was flat on the day at 3.38% and the

spread between that and Germany's was 78.8 bps, also little

changed.

The country's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday

he would step back from public duties "for a few days" to decide

whether he wants to continue leading the government after a

court launched a business corruption probe into his wife's

private dealings.

​Italy's 10-year yield was down 1.6 bps at

3.94%, having hit a two month high on Wednesday, and the gap

between Italian and German bunds was almost

unchanged at 135 bps.

Germany's two-year bond yield, which is more

sensitive to European Central Bank rate expectations, was little

changed at 2.96%.