Brazil’s central bank said it will launch a currency intervention programme worth about $60bn to ensure liquidity and reduce volatility in the nation’s foreign exchange market. The programme, which will be conducted through currency swap and repurchase agreements, follows a more than 15 per cent depreciation in the real against the dollar this year to its weakest levels in more than four years, the FT says.

Britain’s car-building boom is set to shift into top gear because of the recovery in European consumer markets, experts are predicting. Last month Britain made 128,873 cars – an increase of 7% on July last year. That takes the number produced this year to 893,263, up nearly 2%, putting the country on track to make 2.2m vehicles in 2016, which the Society of Motor Manufacturer and Traders says will overtake Britain’s output record set in 1972, according to The Times.

Tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese border rose on Friday after Israel’s military said it had struck a site in southern Lebanon overnight in response to four rockets fired into its territory on Thursday, the FT writes.

Two fifths of home buyers face paying at least £7,500 in ‘punitive’ stamp duty by 2018 if house prices continue to rise at their current pace, a pressure group warned today. The TaxPayer’s Alliance said increases in property values in England and Wales meant four out of five homes would be liable for stamp duty come 2018 if they were sold again. And it warned 40% will be subject to stamp duty of at least 3% adding a minimum of £7,500 to the cost of moving home, The Daily Mail explains.

Ed Bramson, the corporate raider, has resigned as chairman of F&C Asset Management, bringing down the curtain on his three-year campaign to extract value from the venerable but laggardly fund management firm. Analysts estimated he had doubled his money since targeting F&C in August 2010, successfully laying siege to the company, kicking out key board members and pruning costs, The Times reports.

US stock exchanges halted all trading in companies listed on the Nasdaq on Thursday after a “serious” technical issue stopped it from quoting share prices accurately. Apple, Facebook and Microsoft were all affected by the sudden freeze, which struck at 12:14PM. Partial trading resumed at 2:45PM; and the exchange was back online completely by 3:25PM. The Nasdaq is America’s second-largest stock exchange behind the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). According to BATS Global Markets it has accounted for 28pc of all shares traded so far this month, The Daily Telegraph said.