The European Central Bank will skew reinvestments of maturing debt to help more indebted members and will devise a new instrument to stop fragmentation, it said on Wednesday, seeking to temper a market rout that has fanned fears of a new debt crisis.

Government bond yields have soared on the 19-country currency bloc's periphery since the ECB unveiled plans last Thursday to raise interest rates in July and September. The hikes are aimed at taming painfully high inflation rates, which are at risk of becoming entrenched.