European shares traded near all-time highs on Tuesday in a holiday-shortened week, helped by optimism about the global economic outlook amid progress in U.S.-China trade talks.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was nearly unchanged. Britain's FTSE 100 and Spain's IBEX eased 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively, while France's CAC was trading flat.
Investor sentiment has received a boost going into the new year with the easing of two of the biggest risks to global growth: the prolonged Sino-U.S. trade war and an uncertain exit for Britain from the European Union.
After nominal growth in the second and third quarters, the benchmark index is on course to end the year with its biggest annual gain in a decade. Easy monetary policy is again expected to keep a floor under European shares in 2020.
But British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's willingness to take a hard line on future Brexit negotiations has injected a note of caution, with investors also skeptical about how long the trade truce between Washington and Beijing will last.
"Markets may look buoyant, but not all is what it seems," said Vishnu Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Bank. "Uncertainty that hangs over the global economy has taken a back seat, but will not go silently into the night."
Trade-sensitive Frankfurt shares have added less than half a percent in December, with gains capped by uncertainty about the health of Europe's powerhouse.
Data last week showed that after narrowly avoiding a recession in the third quarter, the German economy probably shrank in the fourth quarter as export-oriented manufacturing continued to decline.
In thin corporate news, BMW said it was being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over its sales reporting practices. However, with the German stock index closed for the Christmas holidays, any impact on the automaker's shares will only be evident on Friday.
The Italian stock index was also closed for the Christmas break.
Among individual movers, Spanish sausage casing company Viscofan fell 1.4%, while French oilfield services company TechnipFMC added 1.2%. (Reuters)
Source: www.businessworld.ie
