Overnight deposits by banks at the European Central Bank have spiked up to a new record after the bank issued a huge batch of long-term emergency loans to the continent's lenders.

The ECB on Friday reported that overnight deposits of euro776.9 billion ($1.04 trillion) were made Thursday. That compared with a little over euro475 billion the previous day.

The previous record of euro528 billion was set on Jan. 17.

On Wednesday, banks gobbled up a total of euro529.5 billion in cheap three-year loans from the ECB in an operation meant to help steady the region's financial system against the eurozone debt crisis. That followed a first euro489 billion batch of loans in late December.