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Britain's FTSE ends flat, mining shares advance

* Blue-chip FTSE 100 index closes flat

* TUI (Xetra: TUAG00 - news) suffers from Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news) slump

* Miners feature as top gainers

* BT rises as EE owners confirm M&A talks

By Sam Wilkin

LONDON, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index closed flat on Wednesday, erasing early gains, with weaker travel and leisure stocks offsetting a rebound in miners and strength in telecoms.

The UK Travel and Leisure index fell 1.3 percent, the biggest sectoral decliner, with mid-cap Thomas Cook slumping 17.7 percent after saying its chief executive Harriet Green was stepping down just as the company warned of tougher trading conditions next year.

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TUI Travel (LSE: TT.L - news) , down 2.1 percent, was the top faller in the blue-chip FTSE 100 index, with traders citing read-across from sector rival Thomas Cook.

"Clearly potentially destabilising to the investment thesis. There is a lot to digest here ... we believe there are going to be a lot of question marks," Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) said in a note.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended 1.97 points lower, or flat in percentage terms, at 6,729.17 points after hitting a session high of 6,765.01 in early trading, as losses in travel stocks were offset by gains in some other sectors.

The UK mining index rose 0.6 percent. Copper miner Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) gained 3.7 percent, the top riser on the benchmark index. BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) was up 0.8 percent, while Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) rose 1.4 percent.

This quarter's slide in mining share prices has exceeded a concurrent fall in base metals prices. While the sector is 2.9 percent lower this quarter, copper is down just 1.4 percent over the same period.

"Commodity related stocks are trading at a significant discount to commodity prices, so they look cheap," Manoj Ladwa, head of trading at TJM Partners, said.

Telecom shares were also in demand. BT continued to gather strength, up 2.2 percent after EE's German and French owners confirmed on Wednesday they were in talks to sell Britain's biggest mobile network operator to BT as part of a wider review of its options.

The stock has risen more than 7 percent since last Friday, as traders are encouraged by signs that it will undertake a strategically beneficial tie-up to enter the mobile market. (Additional reporting by Alistair Smout; Editing by Catherine Evans)