Another element to add to the current global uncertainty - China has acted once more to cool its booming economy.
The central bank has stopped short of lifting interest rates but it has raised bank reserve requirements by another 50 basis points. This is the third move this year and the sixth since October, and takes the reserve ratio to a record 20%. The immediate effect has been to send copper and base metal prices lower, on fears of slowing demand from China.
The move comes on top of all the other uncertainties at the moment - a litany that includes Japan's nuclear disaster, the prospect of air strikes on Libya, worries about the unrest in Bahrain spreading to Saudi Arabia and of course, the European debt problems.
The China news has taken some of the shine off equity markets, with the FTSE 100 now up 12.17 points at 5708.28 having touched 5741 earlier in the wake of the G7 intervening in the currency markets to weaken the yen.
