Santa Claus rally: Bumper start as markets near all-time highs

The Australian sharemarket pared back some of its early strong gains, but still had a bumper start to the first day of trade after the Christmas and Boxing Day break, following the lead of Wall Street that is on the brink of a record. The S&P/ASX200 lifted 58.2 points, or 0.78 per cent, to 7559.80 about 11.05am, with all 11 sectors trading positive. Markets are almost about to hit their all-time highs. Credit: Bloomberg Consumer discretionary stocks lifted 0.79 per cent and real estate investment trusts were trading 1.03 per cent higher on the back of the Boxing Day sales momentum. The Australian Retail Association is forecasting…