The European Central Bank yesterday made an emergency injection of €94.8bn (£64bn) of funds into the continent’s money markets.

It also made a one-day pledge to meet 100% of all funding requests from financial institutions.

The funds are aimed at ensuring that money markets continue to function and do not succumb to the credit crunch.

The US Federal Reserve released $24bn (£12bn) in temporary reserves to the US banking system, and the Canadian central bank announced a similar move.