G20 LEADERS have vowed to avoid currency manipulation and trade protectionism, but bad blood between China and the United States blocked deeper progress in rebalancing the skewed global economy.

THE net cost to the taxpayer of the collapse and nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank will be €25 billion, according to the governor of the Central Bank Patrick Honohan.

BANKS continued their bad run on the markets yesterday as a top ratings agency expressed concerns about their future.