European shares pare losses as commodities gain

LONDON, May 22 (Reuters) - European shares gave up early losses and briefly turned flat in mid-morning trade on Thursday as commodity stocks surged.

At 0855 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.15 percent at 1,338.86 points after briefly turning flat. The index fell as much as 0.7 percent in early trade.

Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), AngloAmerican (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and BHP Billiton (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) all rose by 2.3 percent.

Among heavyweight oil stocks, BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) gained 1 percent and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) rose 0.6 percent as crude continued to surge, trading just shy of a record above $135 a barrel.

(Reporting by Sitaraman Shankar)