After reaching high levels on Tuesday, almost touching those recorded by the market right before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September of 2008, leading share index of Britain was relatively flat during early deals on Wednesday.

At about 8:51 AM GMT, the FTSE 100 .FTSE index had surged by 3.73 points, or 0.1%, to, 5441.34, on the back of a strong performance by banking stocks, but these were balanced out by weak commodities shares.

"Investors are pausing for breath on the final session of 2009, contemplating what the new year will bring for equities, with economic uncertainties remaining and corporate recovery far from secure", said Mic Mills, a senior trader at ETX Capital.

On Tuesday, UK's blue chip index had closed after adding 35.20 points, or 0.7%, at a 15 month high, clocking a fifth consecutive trading session of gains as the end-year rally continued.

On Wednesday, however, things seemed reversed, with oils and minors recording the biggest falls. BG Group, BP and Royal Dutch Shell, all managed to fall by 0.2 to 1.0%. The mining sector was weak as well, with Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Anglo American leading the falls.

Some gains, however, were recorded by the banking sector with Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC and Lyods, all recording marginal gains.