FRANKFURT (AFP) -- The European Central Bank said Wednesday it would pump 50 billion euros (70 billion dollars) into the euro money markets via a regular three-month liquidity tender.

The ECB said it was making the sum available at a marginal or lowest rate of 4.50 percent and a weighted average rate of 4.63 percent.
The rates were high compared with the ECB's current main interest rate of 4.0 percent and indicated continued tension on eurozone credit markets.
Several central banks, including the U.S. Federal Reserve, the ECB, and the Bank of Japan, have pumped hundreds of billions of dollars, euros, and yen into money markets since August 9 so that commercial banks continue to extend credit on which the global economy depends.
Institutional lenders tightened credit conditions in August following the collapse of the U.S. market for high-risk mortgages, also known as the sub-prime market.