The cessation of emergency lending programs had come off without a hitch, said the U. S. Federal Reserve's March 16 meeting minutes released on Tuesday.

The Fed recently ended a series of capital lending facilities, including a program to buy $1.25 trillion of mortgage-backed securities, which ended March 31.

"No market strains emerged in conjunction with the Federal Reserve's closing of nearly all of its remaining special liquidity facilities," the Fed said for the programs phased out before March 16.

The Fed ended five lending programs on Feb. 1 and allowed temporary currency swap lines with foreign central banks to expire.

The central bank said. "Financial markets also adjusted smoothly to the final offering of funds through the Term Auction Facility on March 8."

The minutes of the Open Market Committee noted a pickup in the employment situation and said the nation's manufacturing sector "continued to trend higher."

"On the downside housing activity remained flat and the nonresidential construction sector weakened further," the minutes said, referring to the period between February and March meetings.

The Fed also said that consumer spending remained on an upswing, however "household income appeared less supportive of spending than at the January meeting." (With Inputs from Agencies)