Britain's top share index .FTSE shed 0.8 percent early on Wednesday, with falls exacerbated by thin volumes and markets only open for a half-day session, closing at 1230 GMT ahead of the Christmas public holiday. At 0853 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was 33.57 points lower at 4,222.41. The UK blue chip index ended just 0.2 percent higher on Tuesday at 4,255.98 after a pre-Christmas rally fizzled out. The index has fallen 34 percent this year on concerns of a deep and painful global recession triggered by the credit crisis. Falls in heavyweight oil stocks put the biggest dent in the FTSE 100, with BP (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), and BG Group (BG.L) down between 1.1 to 1.8 percent as crude prices CLc1 slipped back. Bank stocks also failed to offer any Christmas cheer as the sector's woes remained in the spotlight, with Lloyds TSB (LLOY.L), HSBC (HSBA.L), Barclays (BARC.L), and HBOS (HBOS.L) losing between 0.3 and 1.5 percent. U.S. blue chips .DJI notched up a 100 point decline overnight after further bad news from the troubled housing market, while Asian markets also slid back. "The Credit Grinch has stolen the Santa Rally this year," said Chris Bennett, senior trader at binary betting firm ChoiceOdds. "And with few traders at work on Christmas Eve thin volumes are unlikely to help bring the wrapping off any final bounce." DRUGS DOWN Drug stocks were weak as well, led by AstraZeneca (AZN.L) which was down 2.1 percent on news the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested further information relating to a supplemental new drug application for its schizophrenia drug Seroquel. Among its pharma peers, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) shed 1.2 percent and Shire (SHP.L) dropped 1.7 percent.

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