The European Central Bank said it bought and settled €237m worth of bonds last week, the highest amount since mid-July. This has bolstered recent market talk it had ramped up purchases of Irish bonds.
The amount compares to the €173m worth of purchases completed the previous week and takes the total the ECB has spent since the programme began in May to €61 billion.
The ECB does not provide a breakdown of what it has bought.
As in previous weeks, the ECB said it would offer commercial banks up to 1% in interest to park an equal amount of their own funds at the ECB for the next week, a move that is designed to prevent the bond purchases kicking up inflation.
The ECB bought €16.5 billion worth of government bonds in the first week of the programme. Activity had slowed to a trickle by early August, only to increase again amid market talk that central banks were buying Irish bonds.
The actual purchase amount could be higher than the reported total, given it takes a few days for purchases to settle.
Meanwhile, the cost to the State of borrowing money on international markets remains high, though it has fallen from last week's highs. The yield - the interest rate demand by investors - on 10-year Irish bonds was 5.87% this evening after hitting 6.1% early last week.
