Reasons for Fed's rate freeze dent equities

IN an eagerly anticipated decision, the US Federal Reserve kept the rate at which it lends money to banks overnight close to zero per cent, postponing the rate hike it has long promised because of what it said was the recent China-inspired volatility.

Traders have waited so long for the Fed to pull the trigger on rates that the reprieve only caused more consternation - like a prisoner in front of a firing squad willing the shooters to get it over with.

Not only did the central bank postpone the rate increase that chairwoman Janet Yellen had tacitly promised would come in September, the central bank also pushed down the targeted rates for the next three years. Usually, stocks would surge on such an extension of stimulus; this time, stocks fell as traders focused on the central bankers' reasons for delaying, and on their promises for action by the end of the year.