(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window)
* Oil majors weigh
* UK faces possible drop in vaccine supply
* AstraZeneca rises on U.S. nod for cancer drug
* Centrica down as finance head steps down
* FTSE 100 down 0.2%, FTSE 250 up 0.1%
(Updates to market close; Adds details, comment)
By Shivani Kumaresan
Jan 18 (Reuters) - London's FTSE 100 slipped on Monday,
weighed down by falls in energy and travel stocks, while tighter
restrictions on businesses led to concerns about the near-term
impact on the economy.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index .FTSE slipped 0.2% in
listless trading across Europe, while the domestically focussed
mid-cap FTSE 250 index .FTMC rose 0.1%.
Energy majors BP BP.L and Royal Dutch Shell RDSa.L were
the biggest drag on the index as oil prices slid on fears over
soaring COVID-19 cases around the world and the slow pace of
vaccinations against the virus. O/R
Travel and leisure stocks, including British Airways-owner
IAG ICAG.L , EasyJet EZJ.L and Intercontinental Hotels
IHG.L , shed between 0.8% and 1.9% as all travellers to Britain
must have a recent negative COVID-19 test and be prepared to
quarantine at home for 10 days on arrival.
"Lacking a U.S. intervention, broadly unimpressed with
China's Q4 GDP rebound due to a drop in retail sales, and
anxious about how Wednesday's inauguration is going to play out
across the States, the European indices dozed through the
session," wrote Connor Campbell, a financial analyst at
Spreadex.
The FTSE 100 fell 2% last week after a rally fuelled by
Brexit optimism, as investors were worried that more stringent
restrictions to curb coronavirus infections might derail
prospects of a swift economic recovery.
Meanwhile, Britain's vaccine deployment minister, Nadhim
Zahawi, raised concerns about vaccine supply, saying that the
rollout was limited by "lumpy" manufacturing and that Pfizer's
changes to its production could lead to a brief supply
disruption. Among individual stocks, drugmaker AstraZeneca AZN.L rose
0.9% after saying its breast cancer drug received approval as a
treatment for a certain type of advanced gastric cancer in the
United States. Energy services company Centrica Plc CNA.L lost 2.2% after
it said its chief financial officer, Johnathan Ford, would step
down on Jan. 31.