LONDON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Euro zone bond yields ticked higher on Thursday, tracking their U.S. peers, as investors waited for a finely poised Bank of England interest rate decision.

Germany's 10-year bond yield was last up 4 basis points (bps) at 2.542%. Yields move inversely to prices.

Longer-dated U.S. bond yields have risen for three sessions in a row. Analysts said yields have been pushed up by higher-than-expected debt issuance plans from the Treasury and Fitch's downgrade of the country's credit rating.

U.S. 10-year bond yields were up 7 bps to 4.147%, around their highest since November.

Pooja Kumra, senior rates strategist at lender TD, said resilient economic data from the U.S. since the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike last week had added to upward pressure on yields.

"The Treasury refunding plan has further added to the steepening move," she said, referring to a rise in longer-dated yields compared to shorter-dated yields.

Investors were focused on Thursday on the Bank of England, which sets interest rates at 1100 GMT.

According to pricing in derivatives markets, traders think there's a 60% chance of a 25 bps increase and a 40% chance of a 50 bps hike. Rates currently stand at 5% after 13 successive increases.

At its last meeting in June, the BoE jolted European bond markets when it raised rates by 50 bps, sending shorter-dated yields up almost 10 bps.

Germany's two-year bond yield slipped 2 bps on Thursday to 3.147%.

Data on Thursday showed that Germany' economy barely expanded in June, adding to signs that the economy is stagnating after the European Central Bank raised interest rates to 3.75% from below zero in just over a year.

Italy's 10-year bond yield was last up 7 bps at 4.266%, after touching its highest since July 12 at just above that level.

The closely watched gap between Italian and German 10-year yields widened 4 bps to 171 bps.

After the BoE is out of the way, investors will turn their focus to more U.S. economic data. The weekly jobless claims report and the monthly ISM business survey are due later today, before the key non-farm payrolls jobs report on Friday.

(Reporting by Harry Robertson; Editing by Kim Coghill)