* Dlr/yen rises on intervention talk, then retreats
* Crude prices rise, world stocks flat
* German Ifo rises unexpectedly in Sept
By Dominic Lau
LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The yen staged a partial recovery from losses prompted by unconfirmed talk of central bank intervention on Friday, while the euro rose on a stronger than expected German business sentiment survey.
The Ifo German business climate survey helped ease some of the concerns over the global economy recovery that had been revived by data on Thursday showing new claims for U.S. employment benefits rose last week.
Crude oil prices rose for the third day in a row and world equities were steady after falling 0.5 percent the previous session.
Talk that Tokyo was intervening in the market to weaken the yen for the second time this month had helped the Nikkei share benchmark cut its losses by boosting the shares of exporting companies, though the index ended 1 percent lower when no confirmation of the intervention rumours emerged.
That still left investors edgy and with risk aversion hitting markets, traders said the Bank of Japan's task of weakening the yen was becoming even tougher.
"The price action certainly suggested that the Japanese intervened, but one can't be sure," said Kenneth Broux, markets strategist at Lloyds TSB Financial Markets.
"With stock markets retreating and a general pullback in risk appetite, the yen and the Swiss franc will be supported, making the BoJ's job harder."
The U.S. currency added 0.2 percent to 84.53 yen after rising as high as 85.40 earlier in the day. The greenback is still down 9 percent this year against the yen, which tends to strengthen when concerns mount over global growth.
The dollar had had fallen to 84.26 yen on Thursday, its lowest level since Tokyo intervened last week, and traders said major Japanese banks were now bidding it up.
The euro was up 0.7 percent at $1.3407 after the Munich-based Ifo think tank said its business climate index, based on a monthly survey of some 7,000 firms, rose to 106.8 from 106.7 in August. The shared currency added 1 percent to 113.34 yen.
WORLD STOCKS EASE
World stocks measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index were flat, and the Thomson Reuters global stock index dipped 0.5 percent.
U.S. stock index futures gained around 0.4 percent, indicating a firmer opening for Wall Street, ahead of durable goods and new home sales data.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index eased 0.3 percent, down for the fourth straight session, while the Thomson Reuters Peripheral Eurozone Countries Index added 0.5 percent.
"Yesterday's U.S. jobless figures just added a little fuel to the fire. Concerns over Ireland are still very much there in the background," said Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown. "Investors are going to remain very data-sensitive."
The premium investors demand to hold 10-year Portuguese government bonds rather than lower-risk German Bunds rose to a new lifetime high of 414 basis points (bps), around three bps higher than the previous peak reached on Thursday.
The Irish spread, which also hit record highs on Thursday after data showed the country's economy shrank more than expected in the second quarter, was steady at around 440 bps.
Spain will detail a harsh budget for 2011 later in the day, confirming cuts to public spending and a likely tax hike on the wealthy as it battles to assure markets it is in control of slashing its deficit.
Oil prices added 0.3 percent to trade above $75 a barrel and are up 2.6 percent this week. (Additional reporting by Elaine Lies in Tokyo, Kevin Plumberg in Hong Kong, Atul Prakash and Kirsten Donovan in London; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)