European stocks turn positive; oils rebound

European shares turned positive in afternoon trading on Tuesday, tracking a rise in U.S. stock futures, with oil stocks rebounding from earlier losses.

By 1247 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.1 percent at 976.14 points after falling to a low of 967.98 points earlier in the session.

"Volumes are low and considering what happened in China this morning we were expecting the market to dip, but the market seems resilient," said Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital.

Energy shares rebounded from earlier losses as crude traded back above $74 a barrel. BG Group, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total were up 0.4 to 1.1 percent.

Telecom stocks featured among top gainers. Vodafone, France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom were up 1.4 to 3 percent.

Drugmakers rose with Roche and Sanofi-Aventis up 1.2 percent and 0.7 percent respectively.

China's volatile Shanghai Composite index fell 2.6 percent, but investors were not likely to overly concerned given its 7.5 percent rise over the three prior sessions.

Futures for U.S. major stock indexes the S&P 500, the Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq Composite were up 0.5 to 0.6 percent, having pointed to a mixed start earlier.