Developing markets are now the world's safe harbours and have tackled fiscal challenges in a way Washington "can only dream about", according to Franklin Templeton.

A temporary suspension of BP's dividend would be good politics and would not damage pensions too much, says Rensburg Sheppards Investment Management.

The £408m Polar Capital Technology Trust beat its benchmark over one year as technology stocks have benefitted from a cyclical upturn, the manager says.

Marshall Wace is proposing to close its £130m listed investment trust MW Tops Ltd and instead roll investments into an unlisted Ucits portfolio.

Pictet Funds is to launch the Pictet High Dividend Selection fund, following on from the launch of a similar product in Japan in 2005.

The FTSE 100 index rose by 0.7% to 5063.7 points in early trading led by Royal Bank of Scotland, which edged closer to significant asset sales.

Aviva Investors has hired Justin Craib-Cox from M&G as a fund manager for its convertible bond team.

Mega-cap oil companies have failed to benefit fully from the long-term rising oil price because of large investments they have made in tangential areas, says the manager of the Junior Oils Trust.

OPM Fund Management has invested in a reverse convertible product covering three UK banks in the view their share prices are unlikely to significantly fall over the next year.

Polar Capital's forthcoming Global Healthcare Growth & Income trust will launch with a partial allocation to growth stocks that overlaps existing holdings in its Healthcare Opportunities fund.