The European Central Bank has said that it bought a record €22bn of government bonds last week, trying to ease a eurozone debt crisis threatening Italy and Spain.
The ECB announced earlier this month that it would resume its bond buy-back programme, which it suspended five months ago, to help eurozone countries hard hit by financial market volatility as they struggle to stabilise their public finances.
This brings to €96bn the total amount the ECB has so far devoted to the programme.
Economists expect the ECB to continue its buy-back programme over the coming weeks in the run-up to implementation of new measures to strengthen the intervention capacity of the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF).
Traders sent the yields and risk premiums on Spanish and Italian bonds to record highs in early August, threatening the rest of the eurozone with debt contagion.
The ECB's announcement that it was intervening on the markets helped ease the pressure on Italy and Spain, forcing down their cost of borrowing.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are to meet tomorrow to discuss the eurozone crisis.
