FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - The year-end rally that started in the past few days has catapulted the DAX above 20,000 points for the first time in its history. The German stock market barometer surpassed this psychologically important mark in the morning and climbed to 20,038 points. It finally left the market with a gain of 0.42% to 20,016.75 points.

The DAX is currently up a whopping 19.5 percent since the start of the year, which is likely to be another strong year for the stock market after 2023, when it rose by 20.3 percent. "An extraordinarily good development, especially when you consider the uncertainty factors, crises and economic conditions of the past 24 months," summarized market analyst Konstantin Oldenburger from CMC Markets.

According to Maximilian Kunkel, Chief Strategist for UBS Germany, investors who have recently avoided German equities due to the challenges in this country could now take notice again. Further falling interest rates, moderate valuations and "the hope of a pro-business government in Germany" could continue to support the local stock market.

The MDax index of mid-caps rose by 0.56% to 26,450.55 points. Across Europe, gains were also recorded for the most part. The leading eurozone index EuroStoxx 50 rose by 0.66% to 4,878.51 points and a similar increase was also recorded in London. In Switzerland, the SMI closed slightly higher. In the USA, the technology-heavy Nasdaq stock market reached another record high at the close of trading in Europe, while the Dow Jones Industrial fell moderately on New York's Wall Street./ck/mis