FRANKFURT (Germany) - EUROPEAN central banks offered another US$120 billion (S$177.6 billion) in overnight cash to markets on Friday, in an effort to keep a strained financial system flush with cash.

The European Central Bank offered US$100 billion (S$146 billion) in its offer, the Bank of England US$10 billion, and the Swiss National Bank US$10 billion.

The ECB's and the BoE's offers mature on Monday. The SNB does not post details of its offers in the morning. The short term liquidity offers are similar to those in past weeks and the banks post more details on the offering later in the day.

The central banks have been offering cash to markets on almost a daily basis for the last weeks as the financial sector has become wary of lending to anyone - including other banks - and credit has become more scarce as a result. -- AP