The FTSE 100 hit a new record for its final day trading in 2017 with rallies spurred by the mining sector and health stocks.
Morning trading saw the blue-chip index rose by 0.19 percent, reaching a high of 7,636.67, more than 13 points up from the open.
Despite a strong year, the FTSE 100 has not rallied as much as seen in 2016 when the fall in the value of the pound post-Brexit vote sent stocks rallying sharply.
For the year ahead, analysts and economists the health of the FTSE 100 will depend on the value of the pound. Chris Beauchamp, a chief market analyst at IG, said: “If Brexit talks regarding a trade deal start to go better, then the pound may keep on rising, which will not be good news for those international stocks in the premier index,”
Laith Khalaf, a senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said similarly: “A good Brexit is probably a mixed blessing for investors in the UK stock market, because it would likely lead to a rally in the pound which would see the share prices of the big international companies pared back,”
Shares in Rio Tinto (LON: RIO), BHP Billiton (LON: BLT) and Glencore (LON: GLEN) all rose between 0.5 percent to 0.7 percent.
Housebuilders Persimmon (LON:PSN) and Berkeley Group (LON:BKG) both saw shares recover following a plummet in shares after the EU referendum.
Jasper Reimers, a senior analyst at Vertex Capital, said: “We’ve definitely got an eye on financials, so for us (it‘s) housebuilders and financials. Housebuilders for the government policy and financials for rising inflation,”