The European Central Bank (ECB) purchased €17.55 billion of government and agency bonds under its quantitative-easing program last week.

The ECB bought €1.24 billion of covered bonds, and the value of asset-backed securities fell by €132 million.

In April as whole, the central bank purchased €78.5 billion of government and agency bonds, €6.6 billion of covered bonds, and €50 million of asset-backed securities

The ECB cut its interest rate to 0.00% from 0.05% and deposit rate to -0.4% from -0.3% at its March monetary policy meeting. The ECB also expanded its monthly purchases to €80 billion from €60 billion.