European shares fall, commodity and travel stocks underperform

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) - European equities retreated on Thursday, with weaker oil and metals prices putting pressure on commodity stocks, while concerns about another U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . rate hike in the near-term also weighed on markets.

Airline, travel and leisure stocks also fell after Egyptair said that one of its planes, carrying 66 passengers and crew on a flight from Paris to Cairo, had gone missing.

Officials with the airline and the Egyptian civil aviation department told Reuters they believed the Airbus A320 had probably crashed into the sea.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had risen 0.8 percent in the previous session, was down by 0.5 percent in early session trading.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in British holiday company Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news) slumped 15 percent after Thomas Cook reported lower summer bookings, while Airbus' shares were down 0.9 percent.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)