Stock markets around the world are continuing to reel following the collapse of Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers.

Earlier, the Bank of England was forced to pump an extra £5 billion into money markets while the European Central Bank injected 30 billion euros (£23.8bn) in a bid to give some stability.

The FTSE 100 index finished the day 212.50 points down at 5204.20, having earlier slumped to an intraday low of 5124.90. Across the pond, the Dow Jones was down 312.65 points at 11109.34, off a 11079.37 nadir.

Lehman employs around 4,500 staff in the UK but hundreds of workers at its headquarters in London's Canary Wharf were earlier told to clear their desks.

Meanwhile, employees based at a subsidiary, Capstone Mortgage Services, in High Wycombe, Bucks, await their fate.

Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) said UK staff also face the prospect of not being paid this week as there is no cash available for the £42 million wage bill.

PWC partner Tony Lomas said picking over the firm's UK business is an "extraordinarily complex" task and will take a "significant" amount of time.

He said of the various Lehman subsidiaries in the UK, just Lehman Brothers Europe and Lehman Brothers Asset Management are continuing to trade.

Lehman is filing a petition under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code which usually allows companies to reorganise their contractual and debt obligations under the supervision of a bankruptcy court.

Barclays, the UK's third-largest bank, had been mulling over talks to bailout the struggling financial institution, which fell into difficulty amid the credit crunch, but pulled out of negotiations.

Earlier, Lehman employee Koen Thijssen, carrying a box, was the first member of staff out of the bank's City office. Surrounded by camera crews and reporters and looking flustered, Mr Thijssen said: "This is it. I think it's going to be all of us."

Kirsty McCluskey, 32, who worked on the trading floor, said: "It is terrible. Death. It's like a massive earthquake. It's final. Everybody is just finishing up." She said her manager had told her he would process her expenses, and she added: "I'll now try to move into another industry."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's spokesman said the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Services Authority are in "very close contact" with their US counterparts and other international bodies and Mr Brown was kept informed of developments over the weekend.

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