LONDON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - European shares briefly extended gains in afternoon trading on Thursday after data showed the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless insurance fell for the second week in a row.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped last week to a seasonally adjusted 502,000, the lowest since January, from a revised 514,000 the prior week. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected initial claims to fall to 510,000 from an initially reported 512,000. [ID:nN11377609]

At 1334 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was flat at 1,013.98 points after rising to a high of 1,016.79 points earlier in the session.

Telecommunications shares were among the top gainers, with Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Telenor (TEL.OL: Quote, Profile, Research), Teliasonera (TLSN.ST: Quote, Profile, Research), Inmarsat (ISA.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) rising 0.6 to 5.9 percent. (Reporting by Atul Prakash)