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Dec 24 (Reuters) - 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 .STOXX was nearly
unchanged at 0813 GMT.
Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE fell 0.2% and Spain's IBEX
.IBEX eased 0.4%. France's CAC .FCHI was trading flat, while
Germany's DAX .GDAXI and Italy's FTSE MIB .FTMIB were shut
for Christmas Eve.
Investor sentiment has received a boost going into the new
year with the apparent 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. Among individual movers, Spanish sausage casing company
Viscofan VIS.MC fell 1.4%, while French oilfield services
company TechnipFMC FTI.PA added 1.2%.