Last week ECB purchased sovereign bonds
worth €7.986 bn as Italian bonds hit record level and borrowing cost also
surged elsewhere in the European region. The ECB did not disclose distribution of
debt-purchase amounts by maturity or country. Market pressure forced ECB to
renew bond buying in August. On Tuesday ECB claimed to withdraw €194.5 bn from
market with a maximum acceptable bid rate at 1.25% to offset potential
inflationary effect from massive bond purchases.