Strong Christmas sales at Tesco helped keep the FTSE in the black with a slight rise of 0.02% to 5,539.38 in early trading.
Ignis Asset Management has appointed Chris Fellingham as chief investment officer, fixed income.
Manchester United is to raise £500m through a bond issue in a bid to pay off its debts.
Skandia Investment Group (SIG) has started the year overweight equities in expectation of a continuing market rally in 2010.
Peter Hames is to step down as head of Asian equities at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia later this year.
Threadneedle has hired Barings' James Thorne to its UK smaller companies team as part of a trio of new additions to boost its UK equities division.
Former New Star CIO Alan Miller believes gold is the most "dangerous" asset class for investors in 2010.
Gartmore plans to merge its £23.6m Japan Opportunities fund into its new Japan Absolute Return fund.
Aberdeen Asset Management is in talks to acquire Royal Bank of Scotland's fund management division, reports suggest.
Syndicate Asset Management has completed the merger of its wealth management subsidiaries to form Ashcourt Rowan.