Jupiter

Jupiter Fund Management has announced a 13% increase in its total dividend for 2012, ahead of analyst expectations, as the group continues to strengthen its balance sheet.

Jupiter has been tipped as a likely winner in the asset manager space as the gap between those who receive advice and those who do not widens and pushes more consumers to self-invest.

Jupiter CEO Edward Bonham Carter has called into question the equity market rally, suggesting current moves do not yet signal the start of a new bull market.

As China enters the Year of the Snake - associated with wisdom, as well as luck with finances - wealth managers reveal their top fund choices in a region which can move quickly against investors.

Jupiter has launched the Merlin Real Return fund for Algy Smith-Maxwell as it shuts the manager's Jupiter Equity fund.

Barclays analysts have labelled Jupiter, Aberdeen and Hargreaves Lansdown as the three UK asset managers to buy, in its latest note on the sector.

The return of high-profile funds to the top of the performance charts is shaking up the UK equity rankings, just as the asset class returns to favour.

Jupiter's Merlin multi-manager team have shifted their UK equity allocation within the £1.7bn Merlin Growth portfolio in order to gain exposure to active managers looking across the FTSE 350 spectrum.

Solid inflows into its mutual fund business and segregated mandates, as well as positive market movements, helped Jupiter grow its assets under management to over £26bn in Q4.

The current equity rally is sustainable but investors should not forget the longer-term impact of inflationary policies , according to Jupiter CIO John Chatfeild-Roberts.