Japan crisis prompts first joint currency intervention since 2000

The G7 nations are intervening in currency markets for the first time since 2000, on fears a crippled Japanese economy and political upheaval in the Middle East could combine to derail the global recovery.

The news of the intervention came very early this morning after a hastily assembled telephone conference of finance ministers and central bankers, the Telegraph reports.

Currency traders in Tokyo and Singapore immediately began selling yen, which had surged to a record high against the dollar in the days after the earthquake.

The dollar rose to 81.82 yen after the intervention announcement. It had traded at 78.97 yen on Thursday afternoon after earlier hitting 76.53 yen - an all time low for the dollar and a record high for the yen.

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Oil price hike will batter UK economy

The price of oil jumped nearly 4% yesterday amid warnings that the surge will clobber the British economy, the Daily Mail reports.

Brent crude rose $4.12 a barrel to $114.72 as the turmoil in the Middle East and catastrophic events in Japan continued to rattle the markets.

The price spike will add 1% to UK inflation this year and GDP will be about 0.3% lower than it would otherwise have been, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

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Vince Cable: 'No new rules for three years'

Vince Cable will propose a three-year moratorium on all new domestic rules for firms with fewer than 10 staff, the Telegraph reports.

He will also abolish the extension of flexible working rights planned for 300,000 families from April and publish all 22,000 regulations that effect business,

Companies will be invited to pick the rules that cause the most problems in a "crowd sourcing" exercise.

A Business Department spokesman said the least popular regulations would go in front of a 'Reducing Regulation Committee', chaired by Mr Cable, within "months".

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