(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UKstock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report for moredetails)
* FTSE 100 down 1.1 pct
* Thomas Cook slumps after bookings fall
* Missing EgyptAir plane adds to gloom of travel sector
* Prospect of U.S. Fed rate hike puts pressure on miners
By Kit Rees
LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - UK shares fell on Thursday aftera drop in summer bookings for Thomas Cook and thedisappearance of an EgyptAir flight weighed on the travelsecutor, as mining shares also dipped.
The blue chip FTSE 100 index dropped 1.1 percent to6,099.79 points by 0802, underperforming the broader Europeanmarket.
British travel stocks came under pressure after mid-capThomas Cook slumped 17 percent to its lowest level since March2013 after saying that summer bookings were down 5 percent astourists avoided Turkey.
"The fact that you're going to confess that you're going tohave earnings at the bottom end of the range for the comingperiod is certainly going to keep investors rather cautiousoverall," Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG, said.
Its blue-chip peer travel company TUI also fell 3.8percent.
News that an EgyptAir flight carrying 66 passengers and crewon a flight from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over theMediterranean Sea also weighed on the sector, with the FTSE 350Travel & Leisure index falling 1.2 percent.
British miners were, however, the top sectoral fallers, withthe sector falling over 4 percent after U.S.Federal Reserve minutes released after the market closed onWednesday signalled that an interest rate hike was on the tablefor June.
Shares in Anglo American, Fresnillo, BHPBilliton, Rio Tinto, Glencore andAntofagasta were all down between 2.6 percent to 4.4percent as a stronger dollar put pressure on metals prices, asmetals became more expensive for buyers paying with othercurrencies.
"With June now live, you can hardly ... (blame) peoplecontinuing to push into the U.S. dollar which spells out adifficult period for commodity prices, which makes it difficultfor miners," IG'S Beauchamp said.
Stocks going ex-dividend also weighed, with financialservices firm Provident Financial falling 3.6 percent asthe shares traded without the attraction of their latestdividend payouts.
ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UKstock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia formatfrom 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it willinclude the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service,Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research andmarket zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves willcontinue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue toprovide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.
If you have any thoughts, suggestions orfeedback on this, please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.
Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Reporting by Kit Rees; Editing by Alison Williams)
