It shows how far the UK banking sector is out of favour that even a smattering of takeover speculation and a positive broker note failed to haul it out of the doldrums.
Some would say it's hardly surprising, given the disastrous fraud at SocGen and the as yet unquantified losses from sub-prime and other dodgy loans.
Still, news that Singapore state fund Temasek had lifted its stake in Standard Chartered from 18% to 19.03% should have been welcomed with rather more than a 2.9% decline in the share price. The FTSE 100 has closed down only 1.3% after all.
Standard Chartered is also one of the buy recommendations in the note from Dresdner Kleinwort. Dresdner said it liked the bank because of its exposure to growth in Asia and for its merger possibilities.
Other favourites at Dresdner were HBOS - down 8p at 677.5p - and Lloyds TSB, 7.25p lower at 422p. It put a hold recommendation on Royal Bank of Scotland, down 9.25p to 381.75p, and Barclays, 5p lower at 482.5p.
Dresdner added: "We expect to see larger write-downs than already announced, with Barclays and RBS most at risk. Monoline problems may exacerbate the situation further, although limited disclosure hinders analysis. RBS is closest to needing some sort of capital action, but we believe that it will manage to avoid it."
In the end Wall Street did help limit some of the damage today. After an early slump on the back of poor US housing figures, the Dow Jones industrial average recovered, largely due to hopes that the Federal Reserve is almost certain to cut rates again on Wednesday.
So after hitting a low of 5705.1, the FTSE 100 ended 80.1 points down at 5788.9.
David Buik at Cantor Index said the market was being driven by sentiment rather than fundamentals, down after the Asian falls overnight, recovering as the Dow headed higher.
He said: "It was Tennessee Williams who wrote 'Cat on the Hot Tin Roof' wasn't it? He would have loved being an observer here in London today. It has been like treading on egg shells."
