UK shares fall as Egypt worries hit Thomas Cook and Amec Foster slumps

* Amec Foster cuts dividend, shares slump

* Egypt security concerns impact Thomas Cook (Xetra: A0MR3W - news)

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Britain's stock market retreated on Thursday, with worries about security in Egypt hitting travel group Thomas Cook while energy services company Amec Foster Wheeler slumped on a dividend cut.

On the benchmark FTSE 100 index, supermarket retailer WM Morrison fell 3.2 percent after reporting another drop in quarterly underlying sales. Drugmaker AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN - news) advanced 3.5 percent after lifting its 2015 forecasts.

The FTSE 100, which had risen for the last three sessions, fell 0.6 percent to 6,373.52 points in early trading.

The FTSE 250 mid-cap index - which Amec Foster and Thomas Cook belong to - declined 0.5 percent.

Amec Foster lost around 20 percent after it cut its dividend in half, pressured by a drop in oil prices.

Thomas Cook fell 6 percent after Britain suspended flights to and from the Egyptian holiday resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, as authorities probed the possibility that a bomb planted by militant group Islamic State was the likely cause of last weekend's crash of a Russian airliner over the Sinai peninsula.

"The situation in Egypt is clearly of concern for tour operators such as Thomas Cook," said Darren Sinden at Admiral Markets.

Traders added they would be looking to see if the prospect of a UK interest rate hike next year could be revived when Bank of England governor Mark Carney presents the British central bank's latest economic forecasts on Thursday.

The FTSE 100 is down by around 3 percent since the start of 2015, and some 10 percent below a record high of 7,122.74 points reached in April (LSE: 0N69.L - news) .

Sinden said that if the FTSE could break above its October highs in the 6,460-6,480 point level, then it could rally to 6,600 points by the end of December. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; editing by John Stonestreet)