European shares off to strong start, oils help

LONDON, June 6 (Reuters) - European shares tracked gains in global equity markets in early trade on Friday, led higher by commodity stocks and ahead of key U.S. non-farm payroll numbers.

At 0716 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was up 0.7 percent at 1,318.28 points, snapping a two-day losing run.

Investors appeared to shrug off hawkish comments from the European Central Bank on Thursday that left the door open to a July rate increase.

A sharp rise in oil overnight fuelled 1.5-percent jumps in index heavyweights Total (TOTF.PA), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) and BP (BP.L).

Miners were also rising, driven by higher metal prices. Rio Tinto (RIO.L) rose 2.3 percent and BHP Billiton (BLT.L) gained 3.2 percent.

But analysts said that while equities may enjoy the odd strong showing, the underlying tone was still cautious.

U.S. non-farm payrolls due at 1230 GMT are the main focus.

"Bernanke can't cut rates further and has run out of ammunition. A weak non-farm payroll number will underline the fact that expectations of corporate returns in the United States are too high," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, investment director at Seven Investment Management.

Adidas ADSG.DE was the top German gainer with a 2.3-percent rise after its chief executive was quoted by a newspaper as saying that the group had already achieved 80 percent of its 2008 sales goals. (Reporting by Sitaraman Shankar)