By Kim Hjelmgaard
LONDON (MarketWatch)-- The European Central Bank on Wednesday said that 523 banks requested a total of 489 billion euros ($641 billion) in funding from the central bank. The move is part of a drive to increase liquidity and curtail the threat of sovereign default by some euro-zone members. This was well above a Reuters consensus for 310 billion euros. The ECB's bank-funding operation, known as a longer-term refinancing operation, or LTRO, is open to euro-area banks. The loans run for three years. The funds are borrowed at the ECB's average benchmark interest rate, which stands at 1%. Italian and Spanish yields on government debt fell ahead of the auction. Markets across Europe accelerated gains on the news and U.S. stock futures also jumped.
