By Paul Dobson June 29 (Bloomberg) -- Euro-region central banks stepped up purchases of Greek, Portuguese and Irish government bonds, according to traders. The purchases focused on maturities of five years and below, with some buying interest also shown for longer-maturity Greek bonds, said the traders, who declined to be identified because the transactions are confidential. Greek two-year notes rose, sending the yield down 42 basis points to 10.17 percent as of 3:13 p.m. in London. The yield on 10-year Greek bonds fell 41 basis points to 10.56 percent. The Irish two-year bond yield fell 19 basis points to 2.79 percent and equivalent-maturity Portuguese yields dropped seven basis points to 3.63 percent. --With assistance from Anchalee Worrachate and Keith Jenkins in London. Editors: Keith Campbell, Peter Branton. To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Dobson in London at pdobson2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net

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