The final trading session of the year saw the FTSE 100 end the half-day on a subdued note with the index moving erratically in both directions before finishing a net 0.7 off at 6,222.5. Going into the auction process, which sees any unfinished business unwound during what can be a frantic five minutes, the 100 index was showing a 43point fall, only to recoup all but the 0.7 during the auction.

Earlier the index had traded up as high as 6,255.9, up 32.7, and as low as 6,170.5, down 52.7, with those moves attributed by dealers to the continuing lack of liquidity in the market during the Christmas/New Year period, which has seen the institutions conspicuous by their absence.

The erratic performance of the 100 index was not matched by the other main indices, however, all of which made further good progress. The FTSE 250 was the star turn of the day, pushing up 34.2 to extend its sequence of winning performances to a fourth straight session. The index has climbed 124.4, or 1.9 per cent, during that period.

The FTSE SmallCap, also up for the fourth consecutive session, put on 11.86 to 3,183.3, while the Techmark 100, the source of much pleasure and, subsequently even more pain, for much of the year, edged up 4.59 to 2,564.05.

Wall Street played its part in getting London off to a decent start, with an overnight 65-point gain in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and an 18-point lift by the Nasdaq Composite. But the Footsie could never hold on to its initial gain and quickly fell away despite a sparkling performance from Vodafone before staging its last gasp rally.

Over the year the FTSE 100 has fallen 707.7, or 10.2 per cent, only its third losing performance since the 100 index was introduced in 1983. The FTSE All-Share index fell 262.2, or 8.1 per cent, over the year.

But the worst performance of all came from the Techmark 100, which dropped 1,215.3, or 32.1 per cent. From its March 6th record of 5,743.3 the Techmark has fallen a massive 3,179.2, or 55.3 per cent.

The FTSE SmallCap delivered the top performance of the main indices, moving up 85.5, or 2.8 per cent, followed by the FTSE 250 which rose 102.6, or 1.6 per cent, over the year. Turnover in equities was 568.9 million shares.

In his latest quarterly market review Andy Hartwill, UK equity market strategist at SG Securities, said: "The year 2000 has been pretty appalling unless you were short and we're not talking vertically challenged! The closer you were to the TMTs the worse the pain."

He added: "One of the main features for 2001 should be rate cuts starting with the US."