THERE was marginal respite yesterday for an increasingly weary-looking British equity market, as the leading stocks rallied from their worst levels but still finished on the downside.

Initially burdened by another poor showing by Wall Street overnight, the FTSE 100 fell away for the fifth straight session. And hefty losses in Tokyo and Hong Kong, down 3.4 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively, did nothing to bolster London's flagging confidence.

The slide in the FTSE 100 would have been much more severe had it not been for a powerful performance from the oil majors. At the finish of a trading session that saw turnover pick up during the afternoon, the FTSE 100 settled 26.3 off at 6,114.3, taking the loss over the past five days to 221.4 or 3.5 per cent.

A "take profits" recommendation in the banks issued by Lehman Brothers was one of the big factors driving the FTSE 100 sharply lower in the morning. Barclays, Lloyds TSB and Abbey National were among those most affected.

Turnover at 6 p.m. was 1.17 billion shares, split almost equally between Footsie and non-Footsie stocks.