ECB bond purchases remain negligible

(FRANKFURT) - Data published by the European Central Bank on Monday revealed that the bank's purchases of the bonds of eurozone nations remained negligible last week amid signs of stabilisation on sovereign bond markets.

The ECB bought just 124 million euros ($162 million) of bonds from eurozone countries on the secondary market, compared with 63 million euros the week before.

As usual, the ECB did not specify which country's bonds it had bought.

The bank has now bought a total 219 billion euros in eurozone government bonds since it first began the controversial operations in 2010 as part of efforts to ease debt strains in the 17-nation bloc.

It resumed major purchases in August when renewed strains pushed Italian and Spanish borrowing rates to unsustainable levels but purchases have dropped sharply in the past three weeks.

Several European governments have put pressure on the ECB to step up its programme of buying bonds, seen by some as a possible solution to the debt crisis.

But ECB President Mario Draghi has steadfastly insisted that the programme is only temporary.