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The FTSE 100 was down 0.77 per cent today – as banks saw more attention and jobless figures came in – but the index managed to hold firm and above the 4,000 level.

The index closed at 4,059.88 a drop of 31.52 points.

In New York, the Dow Jones is holding firm after yesterday's sell off.

As traders across the Atlantic eyed their sandwiches at 11:56 EST (16:56 GMT), the index was at 8,017.91 – a rise of 0.87 per cent.

In Europe the Dax was up 0.50 per cent and the Cac 40 closed down 0.67 per cent.

Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index, said: "With UK unemployment edging towards two million, its worst levels since 1999, the FTSE came close to the 4,000 mark this morning.

"A slight recovery into the afternoon was seen following double-digit growth from Standard Chartered and the freshly bailed-out RBS, which rallied with the day’s biggest share-price increase of slightly over 21 per cent."

He added: "The flipside of course is that the bail-out looks to have taken its toll on sterling which fell by more than one percentage point against the US dollar."

In London, the biggest gains went to Royal Bank of Scotland up 21.36 per cent to 12.50p – as its depressed share value amplifies percentage gains.

Financials made up the rest of the big gains with Standard Chartered rising 11.02 per cent, Prudential gaining 7.67 per cent, 3i up 7.10 per cent and Old Mutual climbing 6.86 per cent.

Barclays, however, was down 9.33 per cent to 66.10p.

Imperial Tobacco was down 5.82 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline dropped 5.82 per cent and publisher Reed Elsevier fell 3.91 per cent.

On the currency markets, the pound continued to suffer.

Sterling was down 1.77 per cent against the dollar to $1.362 and was down 1.51 per cent against the euro to €1.062 – making €1 worth £0.942.