By Ellie Ismailidou, MarketWatch

Treasury yields fell to their lowest levels of the month Friday after an overnight rout in Chinese equities fueled global demand for investments considered safer, such as U.S. government debt.

"A degree of déjà vu has returned," said Brenda Kelly, head analyst at London Capital Group, in a note, pointing to the late-August global stock-market plunge, when a slump in Chinese equities fueled fears of a global growth slowdown.

On Friday, the Shanghai Composite Index recorded its biggest one-day drop since Aug. 25, as Chinese stock regulators launched investigations into two major Chinese brokerages (http://www.wsj.com/articles/citic-securities-probed-by-chinas-stock-market-regulator-1448537277) over suspected violations of securities rules.

The probes into Citic, Guosen, Founder and Haitong Securities built on souring market sentiment after the release of lackluster Chinese industrial data that showed that the profit made by industrial companies in the country fell for a fifth straight month in October, down 4.6% from the year-ago period.

"There are still no signs of recovery, with exports again acting as a drag on growth in the third quarter, and consumers still unwilling to spend their windfall from lower oil prices," analysts at Capital Economics said in a note released Friday.

But in Friday's holiday-shortened trading session, the flight-to-safety "seems somewhat confined," Kelly said, with the sovereign-bond market getting most of the benefit.

Also read: When do U.S. markets close on Black Friday? (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/when-do-markets-close-around-thanksgiving-2015-11-23)

In the U.S., government-bond yields declined in all maturities. Treasury yields fall when prices rise, and vice versa.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury fell 2.1 basis points to 2.211%, its lowest level since Nov. 3, according to Tradeweb. One basis point is equal to one hundredth of a percentage point.

Meanwhile, the yield on the 30-year bond , known as the long bond, inched 1.2 basis point lower to 2.984% and the yield on the two-year Treasury note edged 0.8 basis point lower to 0.926%.

In Europe, government bonds also got a boost, driving yields lower, as European stocks fell (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-come-off-3-month-high-as-china-woes-weigh-2015-11-27)following the rout in Chinese equities.

The yield on the benchmark 10-year German bond known as the bund, fell two basis points to 0.452%, its lowest level since late October.

In the U.S., investors shifted their focus on retailers' Black Friday sales reports. Shoppers were hitting their computers on Thanksgiving, spending 22% more than they did last year (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/more-than-1b-spent-online-on-thanksgiving-day-2015-11-27), according to Adobe Digital Index.

Read: Black Friday key for retailers after lackluster third-quarter earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/retailers-are-counting-on-black-friday-after-lackluster-third-quarter-earnings-2015-11-25).

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 27, 2015 10:08 ET (15:08 GMT)