UPDATE 2-London stocks slip as BoE slows bond purchases; AstraZeneca weighs

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* BoE slows bond purchases as it sees some recovery signs
* Consumer, real estate, mining stocks lead declines
* Builder Taylor Wimpey slides after share sale
* Prudential jumps, sells Jackson equity stake for $500 mln
* FTSE 100 down 0.5%, FTSE 250 off 0.7%

(Adds comment, updates prices to close)
By Susan Mathew
June 18 (Reuters) - UK shares fell on Thursday after the
Bank of England's slowed the pace of its huge bond-buying
programme, while a surge in coronavirus cases in the United
States and China fanned fears of a second wave of infections.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE was down 0.5% following its
strongest two-day percentage gain in two weeks on Wednesday.
The BoE said it saw signs that the British economy was
recovering from a pandemic-induced slump. It raised its asset
purchase target by 100 billion pounds, as expected, but
disappointed markets as it said the increase should see it
through to the end of the year. "The risk (for asset purchases) was skewed to the upside,"
said Stefan Koopman, senior market economist at Rabobank.
"In light of these expectations, the (bank's) decision
actually turned out a bit hawkish," he said, adding that
Rabobank still sees a further increase beyond August.
AstraZeneca AZN.L weighed the most, down 2.2%. The
European Commission is in advanced deal talks with Johnson &
Johnson JNJ.N on its COVID-19 vaccine under development,
sources told Reuters.
Last week, many euro zone countries said they had acquired
400 million potential vaccine doses from the British drugmaker
for its potential COVID-19 shot.
The mid-cap FTSE 250 .FTMC fell 0.4%, with real estate
.FTUB8600 , consumer stocks .FTNMX3530 .FTNMX3570 and
mining and metal .FTNMX1770 .FTNMX1750 stocks leading
declines. MET/L
The commodity-heavy FTSE 100 has rebounded more than 25%
from a coronavirus-driven crash in March, but the index has
still lagged both European and U.S. stock markets amid forecasts
of the worst UK recession in three centuries.
Among individual stocks, homebuilder Taylor Wimpey TW.L
tumbled 6.0% after raising 522 million pounds ($655 million) in
a discounted share sale, while Carnival Corp CCL.L slipped
1.1% after it reported a quarterly net loss of $4.4
billion. Prudential PRU.L jumped 2.7% after it sold a minority
stake in its U.S. business, Jackson, to Apollo Global-backed
Athene Holding ATH.N for $500 million.