Another turbulent day was felt on the markets today as early falls were countered by a brief rally and a muted close.

This brings to close the worst week for the FTSE in five years, down seven per cent over the last five days. The FTSE 250 also finished down 4.2pc

With fears of recession circling, the FTSE 100 eventually closed down at 5254.50 – down 107.6 per cent, or 2.01 per cent.

However, there was some good news for the Royal and Sun Alliance (RSA) Insurance Group, with share prices up to 164.50p, a rise of 3.92 per cent before close.

Speculation has repeatedly linked the organisation – now simply known as RSA – with a takeover, with Zurich Financial Services a possible candidate.

Confectioner Cadbury was up to 636.00p, an increase of 14.00p or 2.25 per cent. News the chocolate maker is to relaunch its wildly popular gorilla ad for tonight’s Big Brother may have buoyed confidence in the group.

Real estate agent Hammerson was up 1.21 per cent to 920.50p, while Unilever and the John Wood Group were up by 0.89 and 0.86 per cent respectively.

American unemployment figures also took a toll on the market, with 84,000 new unemployed citizens in America, ahead of expectations.

“The unemployment rate at these levels adds fuel to the market’s fear of a more dramatic slowdown than we’ve seeon so far,” said Simon Carter, a fund manager at Aegon Asset Management.

Among the losers was Johnson Matthey, which saw share prices drop by nearly a tenth. The materials technology specialist fell 8.44 per cent to 1442.00p.

Miner Eurasian was also down, by 7.74 per cent to 804.50p, followed by Kazakhmys, Ferrexpo and Antofagasta down 6.97, 6.57 and 6.29 per cent respectively.