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* FTSE 100 down 5.2%, FTSE 250 drops 6.1%
* Miners, Oil majors, travel stocks lead declines
* EasyJet biggest loser on FTSE 100
March 12 (Reuters) - London's stock market fell past 2016
Brexit referendum lows on Thursday as a shock U.S. ban on
European travellers sent shares in already hard-pressed British
Airways and other airlines down by almost another 10%.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 fell 5.2% to xxx, its lowest
since February 2016. If it falls another 1.5%, the index will
reach lows not seen since the height of the European debt crisis
in 2012.
Although the United Kingdom was spared from the travel
restrictions, fears were widespread over its impact on the
travel sector.
Shares of British Airways, EasyJet and WIZZ
Air, which have already had to axe flights to and from
Italy, fell between 7% and 9%.
Oil majors BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc
slipped between 4% and 5%, as oil prices took another blow from
the dramatic moves by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a
pandemic, and investors fear that a lack of a co-ordinated
policy response will increase the damage to the global economy.
That sparked an end to the longest bull run in U.S. stock
market history, sinking the Dow Jones Industrial Average index
tipped into bear market territory.
London's domestically focussed FTSE 250 was also
down 6.1%.
(Reporting by Shivani Kumaresan in Bengaluru)
