Weaker travel and leisure stocks push FTSE lower

* Blue-chip FTSE 100 index falls 0.3 percent

* Travel & leisure stocks down on Ebola worries

* BT Group (LSE: BT-A.L - news) falls on Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) downgrade

By Atul Prakash

LONDON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index fell in morning trading on Friday, with airlines and hotel stocks hit by news that a New York City doctor had tested positive for the Ebola virus.

The blue-chip FTSE 100 index briefly extended losses after data showed Britain's rapid economic recovery eased in the third quarter as services output growth slowed and manufacturing expanded at the weakest pace in 18 months.

It was 0.3 percent lower at 6,400.59 points by 0839 GMT after closing 0.3 percent higher in the previous session. The benchmark is down about 5 percent so far this year.

The doctor, who treated Ebola patients in West Africa, became the first person to be affected by the virus in America's largest city, raising fresh fears about its spread.

The UK travel and leisure index fell 0.4 percent, dragged down by a 0.5 to 2.1 percent fall in shares of InterContinental Hotels Group, TUI Travel (LSE: TT.L - news) and British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group .

"News of Ebola's presence in a major capital and indeed financial centre such as New York is sure to curb recent equity market optimism," said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets.

"However, with the sell-off in U.S. futures not being too aggressive and an absence of panic in Asia overnight, investors may be coming to terms with isolated cases and may take this in their stride, with index weakness limited."

BT Group was hurt by a broker downgrade, with its shares falling 2.4 percent after Morgan Stanley cut its stance on the stock to "underweight" from "equal weight".

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) fell 1.2 percent after U.S. company Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - news) , which earlier this year failed in its $118 billion bid to buy the British drugmaker, said late on Thursday that its board of directors had authorised an $11 billion share repurchase programme.

Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) extended the previous session's steep losses and was down 2 percent as BNP (Paris: FR0000131104 - news) and Deutsche Bank (Xetra: 514000 - news) downgraded their target prices for Britain's largest retailer a day after it reported a bigger than expected hole in its finances. (Reporting by Atul Prakash)