The European Central Bank (ECB) has renewed one-day loans of 50 billion dollars (35 billion euros), in what has become a regular effort to keep cash flowing on distressed interbank money markets.

The results of the offer, including demand and the rate at which the dollars are lent, were to be released later in the day.

A similar operation on Wednesday had seen banks submit requests for a total of 70.927 billion dollars, and pay a rate of 3.25 percent for the funds.

Commercial banks 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.

The ECB and other major central banks have been pumping huge amounts of cash in the form of loans to ease turmoil stemming from the latest crisis in the US financial sector, after the investment bank Lehman Brothers went bankrupt last month.

Some analysts question whether the central bank moves are working however, saying that commercial lenders soak up the extra cash but do not lend to each other or extend it as credit to businesses.

They reportedly use some of the funds to buy government treasury bills because they are presently considered one of the safest investments.