The current extreme levels in commodity, foreign exchange and equity markets have prompted a chorus of calls in Asia for government intervention – although such action would be unlikely to prove successful, says Sean Darby, analyst at Nomura International.

He believes the only two successful cases of price intervention are in the diamond market, where a handful of producers control the supply and price of the jewels, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s purchase of the equity market in the late 1990s.