European shares turn positive as low oil price lifts airline stocks

LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) - European stock markets turned positive on Monday, recovering from earlier losses, with airline stocks such as Lufthansa and Air France-KLM (Other OTC: AFLYY - news) boosted by a further drop in the oil price.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index was up by 0.2 percent. Germany's DAX also advanced by 0.2 percent, although the DAX remained near one-year lows, while both France's CAC and the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 were up 0.1 percent.

Lufthansa was the best-performing DAX stock in percentage terms, rising by 3 percent while Air France KLM also progressed by a similar amount, as Brent crude oil - a major cost for airlines - fell below $88 a barrel, its lowest in almost four years.

Traders said that another reason for the move higher was investors buying into equity indexes on signs that they had fallen into technically "oversold" territory. (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Ediitng by Atul Prakash)