UK shares ended a stormy session at a new 4-1/2-year closing low today, but only after glimmers of a rally on Wall Street pulled a war-spooked market out of one of its steepest falls since the crash of 1987.
The FTSE 100 index closed down 123.2 points or 2.7 per cent at 4,433.7, its lowest close since April 1997, but up from 4,219.8, another 4-1/2 year intra-day low.
Prices rallied late during the day after Wall Street climbed higher and defied predictions of a 400 point dive but the prospects of a protracted war of retaliation after last week's attacks on the United States cast a long shadow over the market.
Overall market volume surged to above four billion shares -- twice an average day's business -- as investors first dumped stock then had second thoughts.
Oils were the hardest hit sector, taking 31 points off the FTSE 100, while banks clipped off 28 points and drugs 26 points.
British Airways, under intense pressure since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, managed a rare bounce, up 6.3 per cent to 153p, a far cry from its September 10 level of 274p.