European shares gain on U.S. data, rate decisions

* FTSEurofirst 300 gains 0.3 percent in choppy session

* Stocks rebound after U.S. jobless claims data

* Retailers among top gainers, miners slip

* For up-to-the-minute market news, click on [STXNEWS/EU]

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - European shares turned positive on Thursday afternoon after data showed new claims for U.S. jobless aid fell to a 10-month low last week and business productivity in the third quarter grew at the fastest pace in six years.

The market also got some support after the Bank of England and the European Central Bank kept interest rates on hold and BoE said it would expand its quantitative easing programme by 25 billion pounds ($41 billion). [ID:nL5152809] [ID:nL5403327]

The two central banks' decisions came a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates near zero for an extended period.

At 1434 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.3 percent at 987.71 points after falling to as low as 969.74 points earlier in the session. The index rose 1.6 percent the previous day.

Retailers were among the top gainers in Europe, with Ahold (Amsterdam: AH.AS - news) , Carrefour , Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) , Morrison and J Sainsbury rising 0.3 to 4.9 percent.

Delhaize gained 5.4 percent after the Belgian supermarket group raised its 2009 operating profit forecast and reassured about its ability to cope with tough trading conditions in its main U.S. market.

"We had the Bank of England giving the biggest lift in the sense that it said it will give a small expansion of the QE scheme and that I think is a positive. The jobless claims numbers were also slightly better," said Peter Dixon, economist at Commerzbank (Xetra: 803200 - news) .

"The market is just digesting all the news and we will probably really get a directional sense when the payroll numbers come in tomorrow."

Friday's October payrolls data from the United States is one of the most important reports of the month.

Miners were among top decliners, led lower by Vedanta Resources that fell 2.1 percent after posting a steep fall in first-half profit due to weaker metals prices. BHP (LSE: BLT.L - news) Billiton , Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) , Xstrata (LSE: XTA.L - news) and Eurasian Natural Resources fell 0.3 to 1.7 percent.

Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 index , Germany's DAX (Xetra: news) and France's CAC 40 (Paris: news) rose between 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent.

Europe's benchmark index has gained 18 percent this year and has surged 53 percent since tumbling to a record low in March. (Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)