Major central banks across the world yesterday acted promptly to infuse thousands of millions of US dollars into the financial market to rescue the battered sector and restore confidence among investors.

According to a statement by the US Federal Reserve, the institution has allocated US$180 billion in swap lines, or reciprocal currency arrangements, with central banks in Europe, Japan, Britain, Switzerland and Canada to increase liquidity in the financial market.

Fed also urged major central banks to continue their cooperation and take appropriate steps to address the ongoing pressures.

Global financial markets tumbled after the historical "Black Monday," when one of the biggest US investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, only a day after another financial giant Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for roughly US$50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis.

The Fed move on Tuesday to save American International Group Inc ., an insurance giant, from bankruptcy by granting an emergency loan of US$85 billion. The move, however, did not seem to convince investors that the worst would soon pass.

Major stock indexes across the world continue to plummet Wednesday, with many registering the largest single-day drop in recent years.

It's definite that more drastic measures are needed, analysts said, but none could tell for sure what way may prove efficient and effective.

According to official figures, the Bank of England has provided a total of 25 billion pounds (US$44.8 billion) to markets since Monday, and the Bank of Japan also pumped a total of 8,000 billion yen (about US$76 billion) into the markets in recent three days.

Nevertheless, the continuous infusion of money into the markets seemed to work. Stocks jumped yesterday after the previous session's drastic decline, but safe assets such as gold and Treasury bills still saw heavy demand as investors are expecting more instability in the financial system.