The US Federal Reserve announced a 10 billion dollar reduction in its monthly bond purchases from 75 billion dollars to 65 billion dollars in the second straight month of winding down stimulus efforts. The Central Bank had been buying bonds in an effort to keep interest rates low and stimulate growth. In a statement, the Fed said that growth in economic activity picked up since it last met in December. The Fed left its overnight interest rate unchanged at zero per cent, the level it has been at since December 2008. Since its last meeting, the Central Bank said it had seen improvement in economic activity and labour market conditions consistent with growing underlying strength in the broader economy.Slowly, the Fed's policies are returning to normal after the financial crisis. The first step in this process is the gradual reduction of the funds the Fed is pumping into financial markets, the programme known as Quantitative Easing, QE This was the final meeting for outgoing chairman Ben Bernanke, as Janet Yellen is set to take over once he steps down at the end of this week. For the first time since 2011, the decision to keep slowing down the purchases of long-term bonds was backed by all members of the monetary policy committee.Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, wrote in a note to clients that this was a Fed that stayed the course.