Europe shares rise as U.S. jobless below forecast

                                
 * FTSEurofirst 300 rises 1 pct 
                                
 * U.S. jobless data sparks turnaround
                                
 * Telecoms among major gainers
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]
                                
 
                                
 By Brian Gorman
                                
 LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - European shares rose to a
nine-month high on Friday afternoon, reversing losses, after
unemployment in the United States rose less than expected in
July. 
                                
 At 1309 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top
European shares was up 1 percent at 947.72, the high for the
day, having been as low as 926.91.
                                
 Telecoms were major gainers. Vodafone <VOD.L>, Telefonica
<TEF.MC>, Deutsche Telekom <DTEGn.DE> and France Telecom
<FTE.PA> were up between 1.6 and 3.4 percent.
                                
 U.S. employers cut 247,000 jobs in July, far less than
expected and the least in any month since last August, according
to a government report on Friday that provided the clearest
evidence yet that the economy may be turning around.
                                
  With fewer workers being laid off, the unemployment rate
eased to 9.4 percent in July from 9.5 percent the prior month,
the Labor Department said, the first time the jobless rate had
fallen since April 2008.
                                
 The government revised job losses for May and June to show
43,000 fewer jobs lost than previously reported.[ID:nN06337602]
                                
 "The U.S. economy is clawing its way out of recession as
non-farm payroll and unemployment rate numbers come in better
than expected. Coupled with the recent spate of positive
corporate earnings, the worst of the recession could well be
behind us," said Manoj Ladwa, senior trader  at ETX Capital.
                                
 Futures for the Dow Jones <DJc1>, S&P 500 <SPc1> and Nasdaq
<NDc1> were up between 1 and 1.5 percent, having been flat just
before the data. 
                                
 The European benchmark index is up more than 46 percent from
its lifetime low of March 9, as investors have become more
confident on the prospects of recovery. 
                                
 Banks, which weighed heavily on the index in the morning,
were also mostly in positive territory.
                                
 BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Banco Santander <SAN.MC> and Deutsche
Bank <DBKGn.DE> were up between 1.8 and 3.2 percent.
                                
 Royal Bank of Scotland <RBS.L> was down 12 percent after
reporting a first-half loss. [ID:nL7481516]
                                
 Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 <.FTSE> was up 0.3
percent; Germany's DAX <.GDAXI> and France's CAC 40 <.FCHI> were
up 1.4 and 0.9 percent respectively.
 (Editing by David Cowell)