Greater London, England -- (SBWire) -- 01/01/2011 -- Spread betting expert Nick Serff, Market Analyst at City Index (http://www.cityindex.co.uk), talks EU market activity surrounding Christmas on 21st December:

"The Santa rally continued across Europe today as the FTSE 100 raced to a new multi month high, boosted by stronger commodity and banking shares. Royal Bank of Scotland topped the leaders list, gaining over 5 percent after positive comments out of China on the Euro. Banking stocks have found themselves under pressure recently dragged down by European sovereign debt concerns.

Anglo American and Xstrata were also amongst the biggest gainers today after the price of copper hit a new all time high. The closure of a major port in Chile over the weekend has forced the world’s number 3 copper mine to find alternative export arrangements, ramping up supply shortage fears.

Volume continues to remain light in the run up to Christmas, potentially exaggerating some of the recent gains that we’ve seen.

However investors are staying upbeat on the market citing the latest round of merger and acquisition action as the catalyst for potential future price increases. The latest company to announce a deal is Dutch vitamin maker Royal DSM NV, after it said that it had agreed to buy US based Martek Biosciences Corp for $1.09bn.

Investors will also be keeping a close eye out for any volatile market movements tomorrow, with the release of BoE minutes and UK GDP data at 9.30 GMT. This will then be followed in the afternoon by U.S. GDP, where a bigger than expected number could add even more fuel to the equity rally and potentially push the FTSE 100 closer to the psychologically important 6000 level."

Keep up with market activity on the move with City Index’s mobile trading platform. Learn more about it at http://www.cityindex.co.uk/trading-platform/mobile-trading-platform.aspx.

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