UPDATE 2-Profit-taking puts brakes on UK stock rally

* FTSE 100 down 0.8%, FTSE 250 down 0.6%
* Healthcare firms, oil stocks drag on main index
* NMC Health outperforms blue-chips

(Adds news items, updates to closing prices)
By Shashwat Awasthi
Dec 30 (Reuters) - British shares fell on the year's
penultimate trading day as investors consolidated gains from a
rally that saw the blue-chip index enjoy its best run in three
years and led midcaps to successive record highs.
The FTSE 100 .FTSE shed 0.8% after logging 11 straight
days of advances. The FTSE 250 .FTMC gave up 0.6%, as dealers
cleared the decks in another holiday-shortened week and braced
for 2020.
Healthcare stocks AstraZeneca AZN.L and GlaxoSmithKline
GSK.L were among the biggest drags on the blue-chip bourse.
Oil majors Shell RDSa.L and BP BP.L also weighed, despite
crude prices touching a three-month high.
"The overall picture is one of book squaring and
profit-taking...with investors preferring to wait until next
week before loading up on the first trades of a new decade,"
OANDA analyst Jeffrey Halley said.
Receding worries around the U.S.-China trade situation,
British politics and Brexit have fuelled sharp gains for UK
markets in December.
On Monday, trade hopes were further bolstered when White
House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Washington and Beijing
would likely sign a Phase 1 deal early next year. At home, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Dec. 12 election
victory and prospects of a clear process towards leaving the
European Union on Jan. 31 have spurred risk-on sentiment.
Though Johnson's hard line on a December 2020 deadline for a
post-Brexit free trade agreement with the EU blemished an
otherwise robust rally, the FTSE 100 is still tracking its best
month since June and its biggest annual gain since 2016.
The more domestically focused midcaps are on course for
their best month since January and their best yearly performance
since 2013.
However, Halley warned against reading too much into
year-end moves that have come in thin trading volumes over the
Christmas holidays.
"Strong directional moves at this time of the year should
always be taken with a grain of salt with so many participants,
either away or having closed books for the year-end," he said.
UAE-based NMC Health NMC.L outperformed the FTSE 100 with
a near 5% rise. The stock has lost over a quarter of its value
this month after U.S. short-seller Muddy Waters criticised its
financials.