ECB renews one-day loans of $50b

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FRANKFURT, Oct 6 (AFP): The European Central Bank (ECB) renewed today overnight loans of 50 billion dollars (37 billion euros), in what has become a daily effort to keep cash pumping through tight interbank money markets.
The results of the ECB's one-day offer, including demand and the rate at which the dollars are lent, were to be released later in the day.
A similar operation Friday to tide Eurozone bank over the weekend was met with very strong demand, as 59 banks sought a total of 82.9 billion dollars, and paid 2.51 per cent for the funds that were available, the ECB said.
The response confirmed that Eurozone money markets remained under strong pressure, in particular with respect to the need for dollars.
Since the end of last week, governments in Germany, Greece and Ireland have issued blanket guarantees to cover savings in the countries' banks, and other European states were under pressure Monday to bolster their financial defences as well.
Commercial banks, meanwhile, generally lend and borrow cash from each other on interbank markets but these have dried up since the US market for high-risk, or subprime, mortgages collapsed more than a year ago.