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A MICEX official said: “Trade in all instruments is stopped on orders from the Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFR).”

The FSFR had already imposed a ban on unsecured short-selling as Russian markets braced for a rout after yesterday’s events in the US.

The surprise rejection of the bailout triggered fears of a new wave of banking collapses, after five banks including Britain’s Bradford & Bingley, had to be rescued to avoid insolvency within just 24 hours.

Today, Belgium’s Dexia became the latest credit crunch casualty when it emerged that authorities in Belgium, France and Luxembourg agreed to inject €6.4 billion into the ailing lender.

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Not for the first time, the US Congress has taken a fateful step towards driving the world over the cliff

Gerard Baker

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Other economies had looked to America to lead the way out of the crisis.

Hours before the Congress vote, central banks had injected billions of extra dollars into the markets, taking available funds to $480 billion.

Wall Street derived little comfort from rebel Republicans, who said that they were keen to devise another plan.

Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, said: “This is much too important to simply let fail.” Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, said that the result would not be allowed to stand. There will not be another vote until Thursday at the earliest.

Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader, had warned of the consequences of failing to pass the bailout bill: “A meltdown would begin on a few square miles of Manhattan, but before it was over no city or town in America would be untouched.”

American taxpayers, who will elect a new president in five weeks’ time, have hated the bailout from the beginning. Already struggling with rising unemployment, collapsing property prices and the rising cost of living, many resented having to bail out Wall Street bankers. The plan would have cost each taxpayer more than $5,000.

The rescue scheme was designed by Mr Paulson. The $700 billion bailout fund would have been used to buy toxic assets on the books of the world’s biggest banks. He hoped that, once the banks dumped those assets, they would begin lending to one another again and America’s banking system would return to normal.

His request triggered almost a fortnight of round-the-clock meetings as he sought support to pass the legislation required.

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