Aug 2 (Reuters) - German government bond yields slid on Friday to their lowest level in around six months as investors snapped up sovereign debt after weak U.S. economic data raised fears about global growth and caused stocks to tumble.

Tensions in the Middle East and Thursday's Bank of England interest rate cut also burnished the appeal of bonds, although the debt of euro zone countries that are seen as riskier investments, such as Italy, fared less well.

Germany's 10-year bond yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, fell 5 basis points (bps) to 2.201%, the lowest since February.

The yield, which moves inversely to the price, was set to end the week 20 bps lower, the biggest fall since mid-June.

Investors were waiting for July U.S. employment data, which will help guide Federal Reserve policy and is expected to show a slight slowdown in the labour market.

Data on Thursday showed U.S. jobless claims rose more than expected last week to 249,000, the highest since August 2023.

In addition, a measure of U.S. manufacturing activity dropped to an eight-month low in July amid a slump in new orders.

"We are seeing strong moves across major markets," said Emmanouil Karimalis, macro rates strategist at UBS.

"It is a combination of several factors: the BoE cut has set a more bullish tone this week, while markets are also increasing their expectations for a Federal Reserve cut," he said.

"The weakness in the stock market, escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, and a slowdown in European government bond supply in August are all supportive factors for European bonds."

Stocks dropped around the world on Friday, with Europe's main index down around 1.8% and U.S. futures down 1.1% .

Concerns about the global economy led risky government bonds to underperform their peers, with the Italian and French yield spreads versus German bonds widening respectively to 146 basis points (bps), the highest in almost a month, and to 78 bps, the highest since last month's French election.

Italy's 10-year bond yield was flat at 3.644% while France's was down 1 bp at 2.978%.

Money markets priced in 60 bps of further European Central Bank rate cuts in 2024, from about 50 bps a week ago .

Germany's two-year bond yield, which is sensitive to ECB rate expectations, was last down 6 bps at 2.41% after falling to its lowest since January at 2.38% earlier in the session.

U.S. Treasury yields were down, after tumbling on Thursday on the soft economic data and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in the previous session.

(Reporting by Harry Robertson and Stefano Rebaudo; Editing by Alex Richardson and Mark Potter)