Europe's central banks join Fed in emergency rate cuts

Frankfurt: Central banks across Europe, including the ECB, are coordinating emergency rate cuts in a bid to stem volatile market chaos.

The European Central Bank has cut its benchmark rate by half a point to 3.75 per cent on Wednesday.

In London, the Bank of England lowered its rate to 4.5 per cent from 5 per cent.

At the same time the US Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by the same to 1.5 per cent, reviving a rate-cutting campaign that had been halted in June out of concerns that those low rates would worsen inflation.

Similar moves were made by the Swedish Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Canada.