Europe shares extend gains, led by oils

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - European shares extended gains on Monday morning, led higher by energy companies, and with a stronger outlook for the euro zone economies.

At 1023 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was up 1 percent at 853.16 points, and had hit a day's high of 853.43. The Conference Board research group's leading economic index (LEI) for the euro zone rose 1.9 percent to 95.4 points in May, suggesting the currency area's economy may be bottoming out.

The indicator -- which aggregates eight other indexes to measure economic activity -- rose substantially for the second month running, the group said in a statement on Monday. [ID:nBRQ007407]

Energy companies gained, as crude oil prices CLc1 rose 0.7 percent to $69.64 a barrel.

Futures for the Dow Jones DJc1, S&P 500 SPc1 and Nasdaq NDc1 were up between 0.2 and 0.3 percent, having bene negative earlier. Total (TOTF.PA), BP (BP.L), Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.AS), Repsol (REP.MC) and StatoilHydro (STL.OL) were up between 1.2 and 1.6 percent. (Reporting by Brian Gorman)