FTSE 100 index shrugs off rising pound to close the week higher

TRADERS kept their cool during the Christmas week, with neither a “Santa rally” nor a repeat of last December’s painful falls occurring – leaving markets fairly tranquil.

With the mid-week festive closures and half-session on Tuesday bookended by full days of trading on Monday and yesterday, European stock indices advanced slightly.

The FTSE 100 shrugged off a rise in the pound – which bounced back from its post-election falls to hit a one-week high, and is now around pre-exit poll levels – to climb slightly yesterday.

Gains were widespread but limited in size, with miners providing the biggest upwards drag to the blue-chip index.

Just Eat was the biggest riser among blue-chip stocks, after regulators announced they would launch an in-depth investigation of Amazon’s investment into food delivery rival Deliveroo.

The group – at the centre of a bidding war that ended in a dramatic final string of bids last week – ended the day up 19.6p at 829.6p.

Retailer Next also rose, ahead of a trading statement on Friday – when it will, as has become customary, be the first major high street group to disclose how it performed over the crucial holiday period. It ended the day up 156p at £72.70.

The biggest faller in the FTSE 100 was NMC Health, a long-volatile stock that has gone haywire over the past fortnight, after a US short-seller, Muddy Waters Research, slammed its financial standards, causing its share price to halve. The Abu Dhabi-based company – which operates hospitals – managed to regain some ground during the week, clocking up a chunky rise after saying its would undertake a third-party investigation of the allegation made by Muddy Waters. It slipped again yesterday however, closing down 46p at £17.36.

Elsewhere in the world, markets remained fairly bullish over the prospects of a detente in trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Global shares hit new record highs at the end of the week, amid rising optimism that the US and China are close to striking a deal to reduce tariffs and ease tensions over trade.

European stocks also rose to a new record high, putting the Continent on track for its best stock rally since the aftermath of the financial crash.

In the US, the Nasdaq closed above 9,000 points for the first time on Thursday as Wall Street continued to push into record territory.

Shares across the tech-focused index rose 0.8pc in Boxing Day trading, making it the biggest riser of the three main indexes.

It marked an 11th day of successive gains for the Nasdaq – the highest number of consecutive rises since 2009. The index has jumped about 36pc so far this year.

Several of the world’s biggest and best-known companies are constituents, including Apple, Microsoft, Google owner Alphabet, Facebook and Intel.

Nasdaq’s fastest-growing stocks have included some less tech-focused companies, however – coffee chain Starbucks and sportswear maker Lululemon are both among the biggest climbers.

The coming week is another quiet one, with the spread of holidays meaning major events are limited to Next’s update and some economic activity data.

Heavyweight funds tend to reposition themselves at the end of December to prepare for the coming year, which can cause some unexpected volatility in the markets.