* FTSEurofirst 300 down 1.2 pct
* Airlines, travel sectors fall on flu fears
* Drugmakers rise on vaccine hopes
By Joanne Frearson
LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - European stocks fell early on
Monday as fears of a swine flu pandemic hit airline, travel,
bank and commodity shares on worries that travel and trade would
be hit.
By 0841 GMT the FTSEurofirst 300 <> index of top
European shares was down 1.3 percent at 799.98 points following
a 2.3 percent rise on Friday.
"The kick off is because of this swine flu and the potential
impact if it were to really take hold. At the moment the market
is factoring in the worst case scenario. The reason why it is
weaker is because of this uncertainty," said Philip Lawlor,
strategist at Nomura.
"We have just got to see what transposes in the next five to
10 days. Again we are in the throes of corporate earnings
announcements and as we go through the week it is likely this
will probably overtake the swine flu," said Lawlor.
Airline stocks were hit by fears that the outbreak would hit
travel, with British Airways <BAY.L>, Air France-KLM <AIRF.PA>
and Deutsche Lufthansa <LHAG.DE> falling 6.2-11.9 percent and
leading losers in their respective countries.
French hotel major Accor <ACCP.PA> lost 6.3 percent, while
travel groups Thomas Cook Group <TCG.L>, TUI Travel <TT.L> and
TUI AG <TUIGn.DE> were down 3.4-5.6 percent.
"The threat of the pandemic will add further weakness to
global trade -- we saw with SARS tangible percentage points
knocked off the index and that was in a bouyant time. Put that
in a weaker time and it is likely to be more unpleasant," said
Justin Urquhart Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment
Management.
DRUGMAKERS RISE ON VACCINE HOPES
Drugmakers were higher on vaccine hopes against the virus.
Drugmakers said they could supply millions of doses of medicine
and were ready to work on a vaccine against a new type of swine
flu. []
GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L>, Roche <ROG.VX> and Sanofi-Aventis
<SASY.PA> were up 2.5-4.6 percent.
Sperian Protection <SPEP.PA>, the maker of protective
equipment, soared nearly 18 percent as it was seen benefiting
from the threat of a pandemic.
Shares in Marine Harvest Group <MHG.OL>, the world's biggest
fish farmer, rose more than 10 percent with traders speculating
that swine flu could lift salmon prices as witnessed during
previous outbreaks of bird flu and cow disease.
On downside banks HSBC <HSBA.L>, Banco Santander <SAN.MC>
and Credit Suisse <CSGN.VX> were down 2.9-3.4 percent.
BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA> slipped 3.5 percent after Chinese
insurer Ping An <601318.SS>, the largest shareholder of Fortis
<FOR.BR>, said it planned to vote against selling the stricken
group's assets to the group, casting fresh doubt on the deal.
[]
Oil and gas company shares were lower as crude <CLc1> fell
3.2 percent. BG Group <BG.L>, BP <BP.L>, Royal Dutch Shell
<RDSa.L> and Total <TOTF.PA> were down 1.4-1.7 percent.
Miners fell as copper <MCU3=LX> lost 3.5 percent. Anglo
American <AAL.L>, Antofagasta <ANTO.L>, BHP Billiton <BLT.L>,
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation <ENRC.L>, Rio Tinto
<RIO.L> and Xstrata <XTA.L> slipped 1.7-3.5 percent.
Among other individual movers, British insurer Aviva <AV.L>
rose 4.1 percent after it reported an increase in its capital
cushion and said its first-quarter sales rose by a
better-than-expected 11 percent. []
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
