LONDON MARKET MIDDAY: FTSE 100 Led Higher By NMC, Airlines And Miners

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 went from strength to strength on Monday, gains accelerating as the morning session progressed, having started well following strong trading in Asia overnight.NMC Health was the top performer in London's blue-chip index at midday, with airlines and miners also rising."Monday has got off to a relatively uneventful start, by recent standards, with the same underlying risks continuing to dominate as markets gradually pare some of the substantial losses of the last few weeks," said Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam.He continued: "As the week progresses things get much more interesting, with the Bank of Canada and ECB announcing rate decisions on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, US GDP being released on Friday, and 160 S&P 500 companies reporting on the third quarter. Monday may well just be the calm before the storm."The FTSE 100 was up 0.7%, or 46.65 points, at 7,096.45. The FTSE 250 was up 0.4%, or 68.75 points at 18,864.50, and the AIM All-Share up 0.1% at 1,000.22.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 12,042.12, while the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 17,082.37 and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,681.86.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.2% and 0.5% respectively.As stocks in China - the world's largest steel producer - jumped 4.1% overnight, London's FTSE 100-listed commodity-exposed stocks were rising on Monday. Antofagasta was up 2.2%, Glencore up 2.1% and Anglo American 2.0% higher.On Wall Street, stocks in the US are pointed towards a higher open on Monday. The Dow Jones is called up 0.4%, while the S&P 500 is seen 0.2% higher and the Nasdaq set to gain 0.5%.Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said he will pull the US from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, claiming Russia has violated the agreement.The 1987 pact, which helps protect the security of the US and its allies in Europe and the Far East, prohibits the US and Russia from possessing, producing or test-flying a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles."Russia has violated the agreement. They have been violating it for many years," President Trump said after a rally in Elko, Nevada.China - currently wrapped up in a trade war with the US - criticised the move by Trump, saying the treaty has played an "important role" in easing international relations.In a thin economic calendar on Monday, the Chicago Fed National Activity index is due at 1330 BST.With the US third-quarter earnings season underway, results are due from oilfield services provider Halliburton, personal care firm Kimberly-Clark and toy maker Hasbro all before the market opens.In London, NMC Health was sat atop the FTSE 100 index, up 7.9% after raising its annual revenue and earnings guidance.The United Arab Emirates-focused private healthcare company raised its 2018 revenue growth expectations to 24% from 22%. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation guidance was lifted to USD480 million from USD465 million.In 2017, the FTSE 100-listed company recorded revenue of USD1.60 billion and Ebitda of USD353.4 million. The guidance suggests revenue of GBP1.98 billion for 2018."This impressive performance contrasts sharply with the difficulties faced by rival Mediclinic, which has been having problems with the more mature Swiss market where it has a significant footprint," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.Mediclinic International last week gave a soft trading update, driven by weakness in its Swiss operations, which drove the stock down 21% last week. Bouncing back slightly on Monday, Mediclinic was up 1.8% at midday.At the bottom of the blue-chips was GVC Holdings, down 2.6%, with peer Paddy Power Betfair down 1.7%. In the FTSE 250, gambling peer William Hill was down 2.5%.UK Chancellor Philip Hammond has prepared plans for next week's budget to increase the remote gaming duty paid by overseas operators who offer online casino games, the FT said citing government aides. The chancellor is expected to lift the remote gaming duty from the current level of 15% of "gross gambling yield" to between 20% to 25%, the FT said.B&M European Value Retail was up 5.9%, leading the FTSE 250 after announcing after the market close on Friday it has acquired discount retailer Paminvest. Paminvest operates a chain of 95 French stores trading under the name Babou.The acquisition was made by B&M subsidiary EV Retail, and the total enterprise value of the deal was EUR91.2 million, including B&M's refinancing of Babou's debt. Man Group gained 4.9% after UBS lifted its rating on the investment manager to Buy from Neutral.Also benefiting from a UBS rating update was FTSE 100-listed Rightmove, up 3.7% after being double-upgraded to Buy from Sell.Back in the FTSE 250, ConvaTec was 2.4% lower after HSBC cut the stock to Hold from Buy.Last week, the medical technology firm issued a profit warning and said Chief Executive Paul Moraviec has stepped down from his role.Elsewhere on the Main Market, Ryanair gained 4.8% on Monday as investors breathed "a sigh of relief" after the budget airline avoided a second guidance downgrade in three weeks."The key takeaway from Ryanair's results is that life doesn't seem to be getting worse. A decline in profit isn't a surprise given it had already laid the foundations for a bad set of numbers in a previous trading update. Instead, the market is breathing a sigh of relief that full-year earnings guidance hasn't had to be downgraded again," said AJ Bell's Mould.The Irish budget airline on Monday said pretax profit for the six months ended September 30 declined 13% to EUR1.26 billion from EUR1.45 billion reported for the same period a year earlier, despite revenue improving by 8.1% to EUR4.79 billion from EUR4.43 billion.Ryanair, exactly three weeks ago, lowered its profit guidance for its current financial year due to strikes, reduced traffic and higher oil prices.Profit guidance for the year to the end of March 31, 2019, was lowered to a range of EUR1.10 billion to EUR1.20 billion, from EUR1.25 billion to EUR1.35 billion. This guidance was maintained on Monday.Other airlines were benefiting from Ryanair's update, with easyJet up 3.5% and International Consolidated Airlines up 1.8% and Wizz Air up 2.9%.