(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)

*

FTSE 100 flat; FTSE 250 flat

*

Personal goods and beverage stocks decline

*

Healthcare stocks rise, mirroring European ‌peers

Dec 23 (Reuters) - UK stocks were little changed on

Tuesday, as gains in healthcare were ​offset by losses in

consumer staples, with trading subdued during a ‍shortened

three-day week leading up to Christmas.

The UK's ⁠blue-chip FTSE 100 ⁠was up 0.06% at 0958

GMT. The index continued its upward momentum in the ‌previous

session, having reached a five-week ​high on Friday, a day after

the Bank of England's 25-basis-point interest rate cut.

The domestically focussed midcap FTSE ⁠250 index

added 0.07% amid ‍thin volumes.

Among ​sectors, healthcare stocks were up

0.5%, mirroring gains in European peers, after heavyweight Novo

Nordisk clinched U.S. approval of its weight-loss

pill.

Oxford ‍Nanopore Technologies gained 1.3%, while

Oxford Biomedica ( OXBDF ) and AstraZeneca ( AZN ) added 0.8% and

3.1%, respectively.

Consumer staples lagged, with the index of personal goods

down 0.8% and beverage stocks

slipping 0.4%.

The FTSE 100 is on track for its best year since 2009 with a

20.8% ​year-to-date ‍climb, buoyed by defence and financial

stocks.

By comparison, pan-European STOXX 600 is up 15.9%

and Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 ​index has risen 16.9%

so far.

Among individual stocks, Pets at Home was up 1.6%

after the pet-care provider said it had appointed former

Waitrose executive James Bailey as its chief executive officer,

effective March 30, 2026.

Oakley Capital was also up 1% after British sailor

Ben Ainslie's Athena Racing team ​secured a majority ownership

investment from the British equity firm.

Trading volumes usually taper off towards year-end with

traders away on holidays and markets closed on December ‍25 and

December 26.