FTSE sheds 1.3% to end worst quarter since 2002

The FTSE 100 has closed down 1.3% bringing its total loss for the quarter to 13.7%, its worst performance for nine years.

The index dropped 68 points today to close just shy of 5,129 points, ending a tumultous three months in which fears over slowing global growth and eurozone sovereign debt came to the fore once more.

The quarterly performance is worse than the sell-offs seen over the course of 2008 and the first three months of 2009.

During that period, the FTSE 100's worst quarter saw it drop 12.9% in the three months to 30 September 2008.

The last time it dropped further over a quarter was in 2002, when the blue chip index shed 20% between July and September.

Total trading volumes for the current quarter are an average 25% lower than volumes seen in 2008, however, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

Markets around Europe have also recorded their worst quarter since Q3 2002, with Germany's Dax and France's Cac 40 each down almost 26%.

In the US, the S&P 500 looks set to record a quarterly fall of around 13%, but this remains well below the 22% drop seen in the aftermath of the Lehmans crisis in the final three months of 2008.

Those seeking positives could look to 2010, in which a second quarter fall of 13.4% on the FTSE 100 was immediately followed by a bounce of 12.9% in the third quarter.

The bulk of those gains, however, came in September as markets began to price in a second round of quantitative easing in the US.