World stocks brought down the curtain on a miserable year with modest gains Wednesday but 2008 will be remembered for key markets shedding half their worth as the global economy endured a disastrous slowdown.

Despite a number of bourses gaining some ground over the past few days, the overall picture for 2008 has been one of gloom as the worst economic crisis since the 1930s tore into investor confidence and battered equities.

In European trade, London rose 0.94 percent on Wednesday but slid a massive 31 percent over the year. Paris ended the day flat and almost 43 percent lower during the past 12 months.

Wall Street reopens at 1430 GMT for its final trading day of 2008.

"Equity markets are set to finish this rather disastrous year with something of a flourish," said CMC Markets dealer Jimmy Yates.

"Whether this is Santa's rally or simply testament to the volatility that has characterised the year will doubtless be a point to debate in the months to come,"Yates added.

US stocks revved higher Tuesday after a government rescue announced for finance firm GMAC and its former parent General Motors boosted hopes for a recovery in the troubled US auto sector.

Wall Street's firmer showing gave a boost to Asian and European markets.

Frankfurt ended its year

on Tuesday, closing with a daily gain of 2.24 percent. During 2008 however, the German bourse shed a massive 40 percent — a pattern mirrored elsewhere.

By the close of trade on Wednesday, Hong Kong and Singapore had almost halved in value over the year, Sydney lost more than 40 percent, Mumbai 52 percent and Shanghai nearly two-thirds -- the steepest annual loss in the Chinese market's 18-year history.

Tokyo was 42.12 percent down and Seoul 40.73 percent when they closed for the year on Tuesday.

"We have not reached the bottom yet. The worst will come when investors start to sell their shares in panic next year," Peter Lai, sales director of DBS Vickers in Hong Kong, toldAFP.

Markets have been hammered by the world economic crisis, which was sparked by the collapse of the sub-prime, or high risk, mortgage market in the United States. This led to the US government takeover of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in September.

But shares went into a tailspin soon after following the failure of Wall Street banking icon Lehman Brothers under a mountain of debt. Giant insurer American International Group then had to be bailed out by Washington.

A 700-billion-dollar rescue package for the ailing financial industry was unable to stop the rot as the US and other leading nations entered recession.