LONDON (AFP) –
The London stock market ended the week down and is expected to experience muted trade next week as investors wind down ahead of the Christmas and New Year festivities.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index ended the week Friday at 5,196.81 points, a drop of 1.23 percent compared with a week earlier.

"We are now entering the real quiet period of the year with many investors taking an early Christmas break this weekend and not returning until the new year and so we may be simply trading through the motions and range bound until the heavier volumes start to come back," said City Index analyst Joshua Raymond.

Since striking six-years lows in March at around the 3,500-points mark, London's FTSE has soared by about 50 percent in value.

Markets worldwide slumped in early 2009 on fears about governments' ability to overcome a deep recession.

Although Britain is the last of the major economies still in recession, the country is expected to have returned to growth during the fourth quarter, or three months to December.

Lloyds bank was the most traded stock Friday, seeing 614 million units change hands, followed by telecom giant Vodafone, which saw 230 million shares switch owners.

Liberty was the session's star performer, gaining 8.5 pence -- or 1.77 percent -- to finish at 489.

Inmarsat was up 11.5 pence -- also 1.77 percent -- to stand at 662.5.

The biggest loser of the day was Lloyds, which lost 2.4 pence -- or 4.7 percent -- to close at 48.7.

It was followed by Wolseley, which shed 47 pence -- or 3.87 percent -- to finish at 1166.

Sterling lost ground against both the euro and the dollar.

At 17:00, the pound was trading at $1.6075, down from $1.6132 at Thursday's close. Against the euro, the pound stood at 1.2589, down from 1.2688 over the same period.