The Bank of England kicked off the £50bn corporate bond side of its £175bn ($254bn) programme to inject freshly printed cash into the heart of the economy on Wednesday when it bought almost £87m worth of debt.

Anglo-American, British Telecom, Cadbury Schweppes, France Telecom, General Electric Capital, United Utilities, Vodafone and WPP were among the 17 companies to see the Bank added to their creditor list as it bought small chunks of 21 different bond issues, mostly at a premium to market value.