City blue chips suffered a modest downturn in a thin uninspiring session, with little in the way of seasonal cheer for any bulls still trading before Christmas.

The FTSE 100 ended 33.2 lower at 5843.3 on volume of 620m shares traded. The leading index had put together a slim advance in early trade, in spite of a dismal session in Asia, where Tokyo stocks plunged as government bond yields soared.

But sentiment was gradually eroded as players looked to consolidate on Monday's impressive 2.3% surge. The performance on Wall Street depressed sentiment further, as trading there was flat to lower, with the technology sector under sharp pressure.

Second liners enjoyed some progress. The FTSE 250 index ended up, with its recently demoted technology components Sema Group and Misys up 7.5% and 5% respectively, despite sector weakness in the US.

"It has been another thin pre-Christmas session," commented James Dewhurst, senior salesman at Charterhouse. "There is something of an urge to get some cash into the market and the underlying tone looks solid. But despite pockets of strength it is still a down day and it would be unwise to read too much into the market when volume is this thin."

Ladbroke topped the FTSE 100 risers for much of the session, after selling its Coral chain to a company backed by Morgan Grenfell Private Equity for £390m.

Shares in retail combine Sears closed just 1p higher at 262p, having traded at 275p earlier. Retail entrepreneur Philip Green said he had a raised bid of 340p per share bid for the stores group rejected.

Lasmo gushed 6.4% higher, meanwhile, taking some solace in a slight recovery in oil prices.

Among fallers, GEC lost 3.3% to 537.5p, on news it is to split its civil businesses from aerospace and defence activities.