BRIEFLY : The British pound fell below $1.12 in N.Y. trading.

The battered currency continued its slide despite attempts to prop it up. The pound sank to $1.1190 in the United States, compared to $1.1260 on Thursday. Earlier in London, sterling fell to an all-time trading low of $1.1230 even after Britain’s four major banks raised their base lending rates by around 1 percentage point to 10.5%. Following that move, the pound rose to $1.1270, but it was still down from the previous record closing low of $1.1330 set Thursday. The pound has been hurt in recent months by falling world oil prices that reduce revenue from Britain’s North Sea wells.