City analysts believe the FTSE 100 could hit an all-time high of almost 7,000 points this year as the global economic recovery gathers pace.

Gartmore's shares slumped 9.35% this morning to 95p, pushing the fund manager to top of the losers' board across the whole of the FTSE350.

Henderson Global Investors is believed to have made a 95p per share offer for beleaguered fund manager Gartmore.

The EU plans to make private lenders cover the losses of any future eurozone debt crisis, which will have a knock-on effect on government bond yields.

Sterling will be the best-perfoming major currency next year as the UK gets its "house in order", according to forecasts from Barclays.

RDR DEBATE: KEY POINTS

Hargreaves Lansdown has questioned whether cuts to fund charges post RDR will be as widespread as the FSA forecast in its recent Platform Consultation paper, as providers struggle to cope with IFA exits from the market.

After months of procrastination and frantic lobbying behind the scenes, the FSA has finally unveiled its latest thinking on platforms.

The FSA plans to publish a separate consultation paper on how platforms should disclose their charging structures, including fund manager rebates, on top of its second consultation document in February.

Resolution says it has "multiple routes" to complete its UK life consolidation project including further scale transactions, a series of smaller bolt-ons or a combination of the two.