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After a stable day, the FTSE 100 made up late losses to close down 0.09 per cent.

At end of play, the index stood at 4,320.50 a fall of 3.69 points.

Despite the FTSE 100 holding steady there was plenty of volatility over individual shares, as traders work out where to lay their hats over the festive break, and looked for defensive stocks.

Schroders non-voting stock was up 8.09 per cent, silver miner Fresnillo gained 7.71 per cent and Shire rose 6.51 per cent.

British American Tobacco gained 6.27 per cent and Centrica rose 5.81 per cent.

Financials meanwhile took much of the drops.

Standard Life fell 9.62 per cent, RBS lost 7.92 per cent to 46.50p, Old Mutual dropped 7.21 per cent and HSBC slid 6.96 per cent.

In Europe the Dax was up 1.02 per cent, while the Cac 40 fell 0.24 per cent.

In New York, morning trading was also muted.

The Dow Jones was down 0.32 per cent to 8,795.83 at 12:12PM EST (17:12 GMT).

On the currency markets, the pound was down 3.04 per cent to $1.50480, while against the euro sterling was down 1.92 per cent to €1.05680, making €1 worth £0.94607.

Anthony Grech, market strategist at IG Index, said: "A relatively quiet day for economic news has left investors with little direction, though banks have once again borne the brunt of what selling we have seen, with RBS, HBOS and HSBC all featuring among the biggest five blue-chip fallers.

"While better-than-expected November retail numbers have provided a minor boost for investors, the plummeting value of the pound against the euro and the failure of crude oil prices to respond to Opec's production cuts have dampened any hopes of an upward FTSE surge.

"Similarly, rumours of a fresh $850 billion US stimulus plan from Barack Obama have so far failed to re-ignite financial markets."

Mr Grech went on to predict relatively quiet market movements into the Christmas break.