(Reuters) - German Bund futures extended recent losses at the open on Friday with selling pressure on Italian and Spanish bonds easing after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi sent a strong signal the ECB will act to fight the euro zone debt crisis. Spanish yields are expected to fall further, having broken below 7 percent for the first time in a week on Thursday after Draghi's remarks. Ireland added to the cautiously upbeat tone in peripheral euro zone debt markets with a successful return to bond markets with a sale of new long-term government debt on Thursday, the first since its EU/IMF bailout in 2010. Bund futures fell 20 ticks to 143.82, after sliding 68 ticks on Thursday while Italian BTP futures were last up 82 ticks at 99.71. "Peripherals will hold a firm tone so I expect Bunds will be a little bit capped going into the weekend. But talk is cheap. They (the ECB) are going to have to deliver something now," a trader said. The prospect of bolder action which could contain the three-year debt crisis cools demand for lower risk assets such as German Bunds which have been the safe haven of choice for investors seeking to preserve cash from the market turmoil. But some analysts and traders cautioned that hopes for more ECB action may be premature as Draghi also pointed out that the central bank would not want to do the job governments had to do. "We'll probably stay longer periphery and see what develops. There's a risk of disappointment as we have seen all the way through this crisis. For now people are trading on hope," the trader said.

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