European shares briefly turn negative; banks rise

LONDON Aug 27 (Reuters) - European shares briefly turned negative in afternoon trading on Thursday after weekly U.S. jobless claims data and revised figures for the second-quarter gross domestic product. By 1246 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top shares was up 0.2 percent at 976.02 points after falling to a low of 970.59 earlier in the session.

U.S. jobless claims fell last week to 570,000, slightly above the 565,000 predicted by analysts.

Data also showed the U.S. economy contracted at an annualised rate of 1.0 percent in the second-quarter, the same as its initial reading. Analysts had predicted a downwardly revised reading of minus 1.5 percent.

Banks were among the top movers on the European index. UBS (UBSN.VX), Barclays (BARC.L) and Nordea Bank (NDA.ST) were 1.8 to 2.3 percent higher. (Reporting by Joanne Frearson, editing by Atul Prakash)