Aviva bucked the insurance sector trend yesterday as a reassurance over capital strength saw its shares rise by more than 5%.

Aviva bucked the insurance sector trend yesterday as a reassurance over capital strength saw its shares rise by more than 5%.

However, the continuing worries over market values saw its main rivals move in the other direction, with Standard Life down 7% ahead of its third-quarter report tomorrow, Prudential down 10% despite its reassurances last week, and Legal & General down 12%.

Aegon, meanwhile, is tapping the Dutch government for an extra £2.4bn of capital, out of some £16bn made available to the financial sector. It said that "given today's market levels and the ongoing uncertainty regarding the financial and economic environment, it is prudent at this time to reinforce its capital buffer".

Aviva said its capital position was "strong", though its £1.9bn surplus at the end of September has fallen by almost a third in less than a month, down to £1.3bn at the end of last week.

The market welcomed the comment by Andrew Moss, chief executive, that Aviva was not looking for any taxpayer-funded bailout plan, following reports last week that insurers were talking to the Financial Services Authority.

"I can confirm we have had no discussion with the government on any capital support from the government," Moss said. "We're pretty confident we don't need to raise any extra capital."

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's yesterday affirmed the ratings of Aviva's main operating subsidiaries as "very strong".

Moss said the company was unlikely to compete with Prudential to buy the Asian operations of the world's largest insurer AIG, which was rescued by the US government last month. "We have no particular desire to get involved in an auction for those assets. Already in some Asian markets we're seeing new business come to us naturally which might otherwise have gone to AIG," he said.

However, the company confirmed a weekend report that it might attempt to renegotiate a £1bn pay-out from its "orphan estate" to policyholders, announced in July, because falling financial markets had eroded the value of the capital underpinning the payment.