Emerging-market Currencies Slump After Fed Decision

The U.S. dollar shot higher against a host of its emerging-market rivals on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve lifted interest rates for the second time in a decade. In it's latest set of projections, released concurrently with its decision on rates, the central bank signaled a faster pace of hikes during the coming year, though its expectations for the pace of hikes in 2018 and 2019 was largely unchanged. The Russian ruble and South African rand were two of the worst performers in the space, with the dollar gaining 1.9% to 61.77 rubles, and 1.9% to 13.85 rand. The greenback rose 0.8%, buying 3.36 Brazilian real. It gained 0.6% to buy 3.5 Turkish lira.