Shares in Prudential dipped sharply yesterday against a generally more cheerful market trend after the new chief executive Mark Tucker ruled out the sale of the American offshoot Jackson National Life and raised the possibility of issuing new shares to buy the outstanding 21 per cent of internet bank Egg.

Five months into his job, Mr Tucker, gave the findings of a strategic review of all Prudential's activities - concluding that no strategic changes are needed. He intends to leave Prudential very much in the shape that he inherited when his predecessor, Jonathan Bloomer, was sacked.

"The overall conclusion is that the broad direction of the group strategy is sound," Mr Tucker said.

"We are actually very well placed in a number of different areas."

He described Jackson as "a very important part of the company's future". The US was a critical part of the world's market for financial services as 77 million baby boomers approach retirement.

They will need annuities - and Jackson is one of the top three providers of annuities in the US, Mr Tucker added.

In Asia, he confirmed that it should be possible to start generating cash next year without sacrificing organic growth based on profitable unit-linked financial products.

But he also warned "we are not looking to go into any new geographies".

At home, he confirmed that the proceeds of Mr Bloomer's controversial £1 billion rights issue are still earmarked for growth in the UK - and that £250 million of it will be invested by the end of this year.

Mr Tucker spoke of seeking much closer co- operation between Prudential's core insurance operations, the M&G fund management and Egg.

"There is very little overlap at present," he said. "The ability to cross-sell to existing customers is there.

"Selling Egg products to our Pru customers and selling Pru products to the Egg customer base is not something we have looked at significantly before."

He also ruled out expansion into insurance in Continental Europe . In Eastern Europe the scale of the potential market was too small, while in Western Europe the problem was "cost of entry, use of capital etcetera".

Mr Tucker said Prudential's third-quarter UK sales had been hit by tough competition for individual annuities, but he was confident it would achieve UK sales growth of 10 percent for the full year.

UK sales in the first nine months were up 34 per cent after a strong performance in the first half.

Overall, Prudential's worldwide insurance sales were up by 27 per cent in the first nine months to the equivalent of £1.6 billion in annual premiums - 700 million of it in the UK and Europe, a 34 per cent increase.

M& G attracted a record £5.6 billion in gross new fund, 62 per cent up on the same months last year. After repayments and withdrawals, the net inflow of £2.7 billion represented a 343 per cent gain. Mr Tucker highlighted M&G's "excellent" investment performance.