Rally pushes FTSE 250 to all-time high

Traders were in a buoyant mood on Tuesday, sending the FTSE 250 index to an all-time high on its 12.30pm close as they prepared for the Christmas break.

The index topped last Friday’s spike following the UK general election to hit 21,981 points, a 0.6% rise on the day.

“The Santa rally starts today and if it delivers its typical holiday rally, could produce a 1.3% gain over the next seven trading days,” said Edward Moya, a market analyst at Oanda.

It is in stark contrast to last Christmas Eve when shares on the main US indices plunged by more than 2% amid tough talk on Chinese trade from President Donald Trump.

However, very different noises are now coming from the White House, with trade talks yielding better results.

“This holiday period should be rather calm as trade updates appear very constructive as we near the finalisation of the phase-one trade deal next month,” Mr Moya said.

“The reason we won’t see a repeat of last year is because there are no fears of any of the major central banks tightening policy any time soon.”

In London, the FTSE 100 closed the day in the black, up 8.65 points, or 0.1%, to 7632, a five-month high. France’s Cac, and the German Dax index were mirror images, rising and falling 0.13% respectively.

“It has been a lacklustre trading session as not much happened in Asia overnight so traders in Europe have been left uninspired. A lack of major geopolitical news has caused market volatility to be low,” said David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets.