Markets

Japan's Nikkei 225 index has closed down 1.5% as investors took profits ahead of the conclusion of a key central bank meeting tomorrow.

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Japanese markets have jumped almost 5% in the first three weeks of the year - almost unheard of for the region - in anticipation of a reversal of the decade and half long slump into deflation.

ASSET ALLOCATION

Invesco Perpetual has announced Mark Armour will take over as CEO at the end of this year, following the retirement of James Robertson.

The pound has fallen to a fresh low below €1.20 for the first time in over nine months.

Economist and renowned commentator on Japan, Arcus Investment's Peter Tasker, said in the last 20 years the country has been through the most severe and prolonged bear market ever seen.

China's economic growth picked up in the fourth quarter of 2012, but data for the year as a whole showed the country recorded its slowest growth for 13 years.

After a strong run in equity markets, with the FTSE soaring through 6,100 in the first month of 2013, could history repeat itself via a pullback or even a full-blown correction in the spring months?

Schroders' head of UK equities Richard Buxton has said the FTSE could be set to move into a higher trading range after the index passed the 6,000 mark in a strong start to 2013.