FTSE challenged by UK interest rate decision

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy committee has announced it is keeping interest rates unchanged at 4% despite last night's decision by the US Federal Reserve Bank to cut rates there by 0.5% in the face of poor economic performance. The decision will be disappointing for some investors, who had hoped for another round of global monetary easing - the European Central Bank has yet to announce its rate decision. The FTSE 100 index was up about 1%, or 41 points just before the decision was announced. However, it fell back to a 0.5% or 24 points gain on the opening by tr...