US housing data helps Europe shares add to gains

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) - European shares extended gains slightly on Friday after stronger-than-expected housing data out of the United States.

Data showed that construction starts on new U.S. homes rose by a surprisingly strong 8.2 percent in April and applications for new building permits turned up for the first time in five months.

At 1232 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.96 percent at 1,372.94 points, led higher by oil stocks, which tracked a sharp rise in the price of crude.

Index heavyweights BP (BP.L: Quote, Profile, Research), Shell (RDSa.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Total (TOTF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) gained 1.8-2.3 percent, in line with a $2.6 rise in crude to $126.75 a barrel. (Reporting by Sitaraman Shankar)