June 22 (Reuters) - European shares opened lower on Thursday on fears of continued monetary policy tightening, with London stocks falling on uncertainty about the size of the Bank of England's interest rate hike later in the day.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) fell 1.2% by 0716 GMT, while the FTSE 100 (.FTSE) index shed 1.2%.
The BoE is set to raise interest rates for a thirteenth time in a row, a day after inflation data came in higher than expected again, but bets were almost evenly split between a 25-basis-point and 50-basis-point hike.
Rate-sensitive technology shares (.SX8P) dropped 1.2%, while a 1.9% fall in auto stocks (.SXAP) led declines.
In a bright spot, shares of SES SA rose 4.3% after it said that it has ceased merger talks with Intelsat.
Persons:
BoE, Shreyashi Sanyal
Organizations:
Bank of, Wednesday, Federal Trade Commission, SES SA, Intelsat, Thomson
Locations:
London, Bengaluru