European shares flat, trade thin ahead U.S. data

* FTSEurofirst 300 index rises 0.3 percent

* Trading thin ahead U.S. data

* Health care top gainer; Morgan Stanley upgrades Glaxo

* Recent outperformer Rio Tinto down; Shanghai copper falls

By Peter Starck

FRANKFURT, June 11 (Reuters) - European shares traded slightly higher early on Thursday, led by healthcare stocks, with trading thin ahead of U.S. economic data due later in the session.

U.S. weekly jobless claims and retail sales for May are due at 1230 GMT, both sets of data expected by analysts to shed more light on whether the world's largest economy is on the mend.

"Everything depends on the U.S. retail sales data," said Heino Ruland, analyst at Ruland Research.

Economists polled by Reuters expect a 0.5 percent rise in retail sales compared with a 0.4 percent decline in April. Excluding automobiles, sales are expected to rise 0.2 percent compared with a 0.5 percent drop the month before.

"The U.S. weekly jobless claims will be under scrutiny after last week's divergence in payrolls versus the unemployment data," CMC Markets said in a note. [ID:nN05274048] [ID:nNYS005129]

European Central Bank governing council member Christian Noyer said the global economy could start growing again between the end of this year and the middle of 2010. [ID:nHKG272308]

"The global equity market can continue to rally while bond yields are below 5-6 percent," Citigroup said in an equity strategy note.

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasuries US10YT=RR briefly rose above 4.0 percent overnight after a higher than expected yield in an auction of the paper on Wednesday. [ID:nN10564782]

At 0830 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares was up 0.3 percent at 882.91 points, having closed 1.2 percent higher on Wednesday.

Pharmaceuticals added the most points to the index, with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) rising 1.7 percent after positive analyst comments.