Frankfurt - Leading central banks on Friday injected fresh dollars into strained financial markets, the European Central Bank (ECB) said in Frankfurt.

The ECB opened an auction of 30 billion dollars of overnight money, which it said was aimed at curing "elevated pressures in the short- term US dollar funding markets."

It said the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank were also part of the operation, using their reciprocal currency arrangements with the Federal Reserve in Washington.

The credit would have a one-week maturity to cope with a shortage of money at the end of September, which marks the end of the third calendar quarter. Ends of quarters are often moments of strain because financiers have accounts to settle at that point.

"Central banks continue to work together closely and are prepared to take further steps as needed to address the ongoing pressures in funding markets," the statement said. (dpa)