Britain's FTSE share index falls as mining stocks slump

(ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon - see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development. See the bottom of the report for more details)

* FTSE 100 index down 0.2 percent

* Mining shares hit by weak China data

* EasyJet (Other OTC: EJTTF - news) boosted by upgrade

* G4S (Copenhagen: G4S.CO - news) , Greggs (Stuttgart: 41G1.SG - news) outperform among mid-caps

By Alistair Smout

LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index fell on Monday, extending its biggest weekly drop since February, as a decline in mining stocks outweighed a rally in travel and leisure stocks.

The FTSE 100 index was down 0.2 percent by 1428 GMT after falling 1.9 percent last week. The drop marked the third straight week of losses, with the index down around 1.6 percent so far this year.

The UK mining index slumped 7.7 percent on weak China trade data and a strong dollar. China's exports and imports fell more than expected in April, underlining weak demand at home and abroad, though its overall trade surplus rose .

"Caution is the watchword," said Peter Dixon of Commerzbank (Xetra: CBK100 - news) . "China's economy is not going to show a massive pickup and I don't think the sector would be able to generate the kind of earnings that it used to have until recent years."

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) , Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) , Antofagasta (Other OTC: ANFGF - news) , Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) and BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) fell between 6.0 percent and 12.3 percent.

Their decline offset gains by budget airline easyJet , which rose 2.7 percent on weaker oil prices and an upgrade to "outperform" from "underperform" from RBC (Other OTC: RBCI - news) . Travel firm TUI (LSE: 0NLA.L - news) was up 3.8 percent and Whitbread (LSE: WTB.L - news) , Britain's biggest hotel and coffee shop operator, advanced 2.9 percent.

Among mid-caps, security firm G4S rose 6 percent after saying it had made a positive start to its financial year. Revenue from continuing businesses rose 4.5 percent in its first quarter and it suffered no new impairments on loss-making government contracts.

British baker Greggs rose 3.4 percent after its results. Sales slowed, but traders were encouraged by the performance, especially given a 16 percent drop for the stock so far this year .

ADVISORY- Reuters plans to replace intra-day European and UK stock market reports with a Live Markets blog on Eikon (see cpurl://apps.cp./cms/?pageId=livemarkets for site in development). In a real-time, multimedia format from 0600 London time through the 1630 closing bell, it will include the best of our market reporting, Stocks Buzz service, Eikon graphics, Reuters pictures, eye-catching research and market zeitgeist. Breaking news and dramatic market moves will continue to be alerted to all clients and we will continue to provide a short opening story and comprehensive closing reports.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions or feedback on this, please email mike.dolan@thomsonreuters.com.

Mike Dolan, Markets Editor EMEA. (Additional reporting by Atul Prakash, editing by Larry King)