The Federal Reserve bought $23.4 billion of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae mortgage bonds as part of the central bank's efforts at credit easing. 

The biggest portion of the purchases from Jan. 8 through Jan. 14 was $9.75 billion of 30-year debt with 4.5 percent coupons, the New York Fed said Thursday on its Web site.  Acquisitions since the program started total $33.6 billion. 

The government is seeking to lower mortgage rates to help curb a U.S. housing slump that sparked a global recession. The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 4.96 percent in the week ended Thursday, the lowest on record, according to Freddie Mac. The Fed may not seek to push yields on so-called agency mortgage bonds much lower, Credit Suisse Group said. 

 It is important that policy steps do not crowd out private investors due to excessively low yields, Credit Suisse analysts including Mahesh Swaminathan in New York wrote in a report Thursday. 

The central bank has said it plans to buy $500 billion of agency mortgage bonds by June 30 under the program, which began last week. Yields on the securities, a $5 trillion market, guide rates on most new U.S. home lending after soaring foreclosures led to the collapse of the nonagency market and retreats by banks.

    Yields on Fannie Mae's current-coupon 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage bonds have climbed about 0.12 of a percentage point from a record low on Jan. 12 to 3.79 percent Thursday, compared with 5.41 percent on Nov. 24, when the program was announced, according to Bloomberg data.

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