Markets dip as Federal Reserve raises rates despite banking crisis

Bets that US central bank has finished raising rates cushion markets

The benchmark Sensex fell half a per cent after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) — its ninth straight hike since March 2022 — to curb sticky inflation in the world’s largest economy. 

The latest hike — which has lifted rates from near-zero last year to 4.75-5 per cent, most since 2007 — came despite the turmoil in the banking sector. 

The market decline was arrested as investors raised bets that the Fed had finished raising rates despite no such indication from the US central bank. The benchmark Sensex fell 289 points, or 0.5