The US Federal Reserve said Wednesday it has injected seven billion dollars into the jittery financial system to meet increased liquidity demands.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which handles the operations of the short-term federal funds market, made the cash infusion, a spokesman for the New York Fed said.
The amount was much smaller than the Fed's injections late last week to ease credit crunched by problems in the high-risk subprime mortgage sector.
The Fed pumped a total of 38 billion dollars into the financial system Thursday and 24 billion Friday. The central bank added two billion dollars Monday but did not intervene Tuesday.
Under normal circumstances, these almost-daily operations add about five to 10 billion dollars a day to the markets.
Before markets opened on Wall Street Wednesday, the New York Fed said that market conditions suggest that an injection will be needed in the federal funds market "to accommodate heightened reserve needs."
The bank said it "stands ready to conduct further operations later in the day if needed."
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.24 percent higher at 13,061.03 points around 1505 GMT.
