Stocks on Wall Street closed down in volatile trading yesterday despite a quarter-point cut in the interbank rate by the US Federal Reserve's policy committee.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 24.97 points, or 0.28 per cent, to end the day at 8,986.28 points. The 0.25 per cent interest rate cut, bringing the interbank rate to 4.5 percent, was not enough to reassure investors.

The last time the Fed cut rates, on October 15th, the market responded with a 330.58-point jump, but investors did not show the same enthusiasm yesterday. But the drop was concentrated on the 30 leading stocks within the Dow index. Other market indicators were more positive, with Standard and Poor's 500 gaining 3.46 points and the technology-heavy NASDAQ up 16.91 points.