In further economic gloom, official figures confirmed the UK economy shrank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2012, leaving it on course for a triple-dip recession.

A slight upward revision in the UK's growth during 2012 as a whole, from 0.2% to 0.3%, did not ease speculation Britain is facing another reversal in output in the first quarter of this year.

Despite triple-dip recession fears, the weakness of the euro saw the pound rise to its highest level against the single currency for two months, at €1.18. Sterling eased back to $1.51.

The Bank of England's capital call saw Lloyds gain 2%, or 1.1p, at 48.7p, while Barclays lifted 0.7p to 287.9p after the FPC said institutions must meet the gap by the end of the year by raising new capital or restructuring their balance sheets. But RBS suffered after the report, dropping 3%, or 8.9p, to 277.1p.

Insurer Prudential added to the drag on the Footsie, after being hit with a £30 million fine for keeping regulators in the dark over plans for a business-changing Asian takeover. It fell 4%, or 47p, to 1051p.

Holiday giant TUI Travel was the biggest riser on the Footsie as a 9% rise in summer bookings was well received. The shares rose 4%, or 12.4p, to 322.8p.

Vodafone was a big faller, losing some of the premium achieved recently on the back of speculation over a potential £88 billion sale of its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless in the US. Shares were down 1.8p to 186p.

The biggest Footsie risers were TUI Travel, Weir Group ahead 61p to 2248p, Lloyds Banking Group and Randgold Resources up 105p at 5670p.

The biggest fallers were Prudential, Royal Bank of Scotland, International Consolidated Airlines 5.8p lower at 250.1p and Aviva down 6.2p to 297.5p.