LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - European shares hit their lowest close in more than six weeks on Friday after data showed the U.S. labour market was struggling, but a rebound in U.S. stocks helped the index off the day's lows.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares closed unofficially down 1.1 percent at 1,268.60 points, its lowest close since Jan. 23.

But this was well off the day's low of 1,258.27 hit after data showed U.S. employers unexpectedly cut jobs in February at the steepest rate in nearly five years.

And even U.S. stocks rebounded towards the close of European trading on the back of short-covering ahead of the weekend, limiting losses on the Europe index, growth worries kept commodity and financial stocks under pressure.

Rio Tinto RIO, BHP (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Anglo American (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research) were down between 2.4 and 4.1 percent. HSBC (HSBA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and BNP Paribas shed between 0.8 amd 1.1 percent.

But the biggest percentage loser was Veolia Environnement (VIE.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's biggest listed water supplier, which fell 10 percent after results missed analysts' forecasts. (Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)