GLG has appointed Nick Judge, formerly managing director of Merrill Lynch's equities division, to its UK asset management team.

The FTSE 100 is down slightly in late morning trading despite receiving an initial boost on news Friends Provident has agreed a takeover by Clive Cowdery's Resolution.

F&C has added Nevsky Global Emerging Markets to its Lifestyle Growth portfolio and multi-manager Growth and Balanced funds.

Collins Stewart is planning to launch a fund of absolute return funds by the end of this year.

Henderson New Star chief economist Simon Ward says patterns in previous recessions suggest the depth of the current downturn may have been overstated.

Henderson Strategic Bond, managed by John Pattullo and Jenna Barnard, has surpassed £500m in assets under management.

Skandia's platform sales have bolstered Old Mutual's interim results in the UK, with total net inflows of £0.4bn.

The FTSE 100 reached its highest level since October 2008 this afternoon, leaping more than 75 points to reach 4695.92 points.

Way Fund Managers (WFM) chief executive, David Pook, is to retire from the firm at the end of September with a number of changes also announced to the group's third party division, Elite.

The UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) reached 50.8 in July, the first time it has registered a level above the neutral mark of 50 since March 2008.