What goes up must come down” was the motto of the currency market this week, with high fliers such as the US, Australian and New Zealand dollars all falling back to earth, while the under-fire yen managed to eke out a rare weekly gain.

But while it was the high-yielding currencies that headed the decliners, there was no universal move away from the yield-seeking carry trades that have driven these currencies higher over the year. Sterling, another member of the high-yielding Anglo-Saxon currency club, made strong gains.