(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 drifted towards another five-month closing high in the last session before Christmas, with muted moves seen in London amid Tuesday's low volatility and thin trading.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 8.65 points, or 0.1%, at 7,632.24, ending the session at its best level since late July.
The FTSE 250 ended up 137.74 points, or 0.6%, at 21,981.09, an all-time record closing high. The AIM All-Share closed up 3.36 points, or 0.4%, at 950.47.
The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.1% at 12,933.89, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.7% at 19,854.48, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.2% at 12,137.16.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1% in late trade, though markets in France will close shortly.
"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 at CMC Markets.
"The German market is closed and seeing as one of the major players in Europe is shut, it adds to the muted mood," he added.
Stocks in the US, in line with Europe, are also on course for a muted start. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are all called 0.1% higher. US markets will also be closing early on Tuesday, at 1300 local time.
In currency markets, sterling continued to trade around three-week lows.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2951 at the London equities close Tuesday, compared to USD1.2925 at the close on Monday.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3051 at the equities close on Friday, and rose above the USD1.35 mark just under a fortnight ago in the wake of the UK general election exit poll.
"Many investors supported sterling in the immediate aftermath of the election, driving it beyond USD1.35, in the hope that a comfortable conservative majority would allow for a more constructive stance from Boris Johnson, in relation to the negotiation of a trade deal with the EU and of course the extension of the transition period," commented Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at ActivTrades.
"However, the current prevailing market sentiment points at fears, that ultimately, come December 31st 2020, we may still be facing the scenario of an abrupt exit from the EU, without a trade deal; this is why the pound is declining, as a new sense of reality slowly sinks in," he added.
Elsewhere in forex, the euro stood at USD1.1079 at the European equities close Tuesday, soft against USD1.1089 at the close on Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY109.41, higher compared to JPY109.35 late Monday.
In commodities, Brent oil was quoted at USD66.78 a barrel at the London equities close Tuesday from USD66.00 late Monday.
Saudi Arabia and Kuwait signed an agreement on Tuesday to resume pumping at two major oilfields in a shared neutral zone shut for five years due to a disagreement, officials said.
Kuwait's oil minister Khaled al-Fadhel said on Twitter that the memorandum of understanding signed with Saudi Arabia included "the resumption of production in the divided zone".
Meanwhile, gold was quoted at USD1,489.92 an ounce at the London equities close Tuesday, up against USD1,483.60 at the close on Monday.
"Gold is sneakily turning bullish as we approach year end. Gold has withstood a wrath of trade optimism that has made many investors question the need for safe-havens. The 2020 outlook for gold is starting to look very bullish as strong central bank demand is firmly in place, the dollar could continuing falling in the first half of the year, the Fed is on hold and the next move is still likely to be further accommodation," said Edward Moya at Oanda.
This helped London-listed gold miner Hochschild Mining end 2.4% higher, with Centamin up 2.0% and Fresnillo up 1.5%.
Elsewhere in London, BT shares ended down 3.0% as the telecommunications firm went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payouts.
Go-Ahead closed up 3.0% after Moody's raised the transport operator's outlook to positive.
"Go-Ahead's positive outlook reflects a stabilisation of the operational challenges facing the group's rail business, coupled with strong financial metrics, which, if continued, could result in a rating upgrade" commented Tomas O'Loughlin, Moody's vice president, senior credit officer.
Bodycote closed 2.4% higher as it unveiled plans to buy North America-based Ellison Surface Technologies for a gross consideration of USD200 million.
Bodycote said the deal is expected to create "one of the world's largest" providers of thermal spray and engineered coating surface technology services to the aerospace industry. Ellison will be integrated into Bodycote's surface technology and aerospace business.
The Macclesfield-headquartered heat treatment and thermal processing services provider said the consideration will be settled using its existing committed credit facilities.
The London Stock Exchange re-opens on Friday, for a normal, full-day session. The economic calendar for Friday is thin, but on Thursday there is Japan's consumer price inflation at 2330 GMT.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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