US interest rates nudged up

WASHINGTON - The US Federal Reserve nudged interest rates up on Tuesday for an eighth straight time, nodding to mounting inflation pressures but still confident it can contain them with "measured" increases.

The US central bank's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee unanimously voted to lift the benchmark federal funds rate -- which has a knock-on effect for the world economy -- by a quarter-percentage point to 3 per cent, as expected.

Significantly, policy-makers repeated their expectation that policy stimulus can be removed at a gradual, or "measured", pace -- wording generally taken to mean a diet of smaller, quarter-point hikes rather than bigger ones.

The Fed has indicated its concern about rising prices as the economic expansion matures, apparently a worry acute enough to override some recent signs that growth may be flagging and to keep interest rates on an upward trajectory.

- REUTERS