The United States Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged yesterday but officials said they still expected to raise borrowing costs at a "gradual pace''.
The Fed wanted to see how the global economy and markets affected the US outlook, Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said.
The Federal Open Market Committee was monitoring global economic and financial developments and assessing the implications for the labour market and inflation, and the balance of risks, the bank said at the end of its two-day meeting.
In New Zealand, the Reserve Bank kept its official cash rate unchanged at 2.5%.
Mr Timms said since the Fed raised interest rates last month, for the first time in nearly a decade, turmoil in financial markets and a dimming of the outlook for global growth had spurred investors to expect a slower rise in borrowing costs.
The median projection of policy makers' forecasts in December called for four 0.25% rate increases in 2016.
Ahead of the market committee statement, futures markets indicated traders saw just one or two hikes coming, he said.
Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen and her colleagues, explaining their unanimous decision to leave the target range for their benchmark federal funds rate at 0.25% to 0.5%, said recent information suggested labour market conditions improved further even as economic growth slowed last year.
"Fed officials will be able to sift through January and February employment reports before their next policy meeting in March,'' Mr Timms said.
US stocks moved back into the red after the Fed left its interest rates unchanged.
Dow Industrials, which had turned a 150-point drop into a modest gain earlier in the session, fell again after the announcement.
