Britain's FTSE 100 ended 1.2 per cent lower yesterday, reversing earlier gains to echo losses on Wall Street as investors bracing for global recession discarded battered UK banks and oil majors.

The FTSE 100 index ended down 52.9 points at 4,229.7 as shares fell across Europe, and having earlier risen to a day's high of 4,347.7 points. The blue-chip index closed 219.66 points higher at 4,282.67 on Monday.

The FTSE has lost 34.5 per cent of its value so far this year in the clutches of a credit crisis that has sparked major losses at banks, seized up interbank lending and brought the global economy onto the brink of recession.

The battered banking sector topped the losers as Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) shed 8.2 and 6.2 per cent, respectively.

RBS jumped 23 per cent on Monday as investors continued to assess the impact of the government bail-out on the bank's ability to increase dividends.

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