With its first purchases of government bonds under its enhancedstimulus plan, the European Central Bank (ECB) showed it's willingto be patient in its efforts to reignite the euro area'seconomy.

The ECB and national central banks started buying sovereign debton Monday under the 19-month plan to inject 1.1 trillion euros(US$1.2 trillion) into the economy. While purchases included bondsfrom at least five countries, the size of individual trades—atbetween 15 million euros and 50 million euros—was small relative tothe program's goals, according to people with knowledge of thetransactions.

“The amount bought may be small to start with, but this will belike a pressure cooker,” said Ciaran O'Hagan, head of Europeanrates strategy at Societe Generale SA in Paris. “They have justswitched on the heat and we will need some time for the pressure tomount.”