Man Group's Japan fund delights

Man Group, the investment and hedge fund which sponsors the literary world's fiction award, the Booker Prize, dazzled when its new Japan fund raised a better-than-expected $1.5 billion (£910 million) as investors reckon the March earthquake should not derail growth.

Analysts had reckoned the FTSE100 firm would only manage $500 million.

Japan accounts for 15% of Man's assets and chief executive Peter Clarke had warned after the quake that there was a "decreased risk appetite".

Shares in Man rose more than 3% to 258p on today's news.

Man subsidiary AHL worked on this new fund - called Nomura Global Trend - with Japanese investment bank Nomura. The fund, which was praised by Clarke as "innovative", invests in a range of futures from commodities to currencies, including the Chinese Yuan.