NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Treasury prices fell sharply Monday ahead of a week of corporate debt issues as a sudden wave of speculative selling sent yields to new ranges and triggered market-timers to jump in on the action.

The dollar made slight gains against both the euro and yen after weeks of near-straight losses.

The 10-year note lost 24/32 of a point to 99-11/32 to yield 4.33, up from 4.24 late Friday. The 30-year bond dropped 1-8/32 points to 105-29/32, to yield 4.97 percent, up from 4.89 percent Friday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

The two-year note lost a tick to 99-20/32, to yield 3.06 percent, while the five-year note lost 11/32 of a point at 99-2/32, to yield 3.71 percent.

The downward dash began as investors sold government bonds to hedge their portfolios ahead of a week full of corporate debt issues, analysts said.

Benchmark yields jumped to their highest level since August, clearing above the 4.28/4.30 percent chart barrier. Analysts noted 4.28 percent had been the ceiling for yields for the last three months and the break opened the way for a retracement to at least 4.41 percent.

Things could turn around for bonds if important data releases later this week, particularly a national manufacturing survey and November payrolls, show an ebbing of economic activity.

But recent data have shown consistent strength, so investors presume this week's figures will be sufficiently upbeat to allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates for a fifth time this year at its Dec. 14 meeting.

In the currency market, the dollar held above last week's record low against the euro and 4-1/2 year lows against the yen, winning some respite after 10 consecutive weeks of losses as traders await economic news later in the week.

"Some time this week the dollar will take a brisk turn to the upside, simply because the euro's rise looks increasingly top-heavy and there are more and more profits to be booked," said Anne Parker Mills, head of foreign exchange research with Brown Brothers Harriman in New York.

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The euro traded at $1.3274 late Monday, down from $1.3294 Friday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar traded at ¥102.85, up from ¥102.59.

Signs that China is in no rush to let its pegged currency appreciate against the dollar gave some support to the greenback, which has shed nearly nine percent against the euro and the yen in the last two months.

However, analysts said the dollar's gains on Monday were only a pause in its long-term downtrend and had been driven mainly by technical factors.

"We set a new high [in euro/dollar] on Friday and the market is a bit exhausted and overdone," Peter Fontaine, currency strategist at KBC in Brussels, told Reuters.

"But everybody is still very negative on the dollar," he added.  

-- from staff and wire reports