The Bank of England said it provided themarket with further help totalling 166 mln stg during the
afternoon.
    In band one, it bought 31 mln stg of treasury bills and
three mln stg of bank bills at 9-7/8 pct, while in band two it
bought 69 mln stg of bank bills at 9-13/16 pct. In addition, it
bought 63 mln stg of band three bank bills at 9-3/4 pct.
    This brings the total assistance by the Bank so far today
to 219 mln stg against a liquidity shortage it has estimated at
around 300 mln stg.
 REUTER
