Futures signal gains after string of losses

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to opening gains on Thursday as investors sought bargains after a string of losing sessions.

Premarket trading was choppy, with index futures moving between negative and flat early in the session before rebounding alongside European shares.

Concerns over Europe's sovereign debt crisis helped to spark declines in the S&P 500 for five of the past six sessions. Early Thursday, European shares shrugged off losses to rise 0.5 percent.

"We've seen buyers come in at the 1,350 level (on the S&P) for the past few sessions, so there's no doubt sellers are tired now," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York.

"We were very oversold, and selling is done at least in the short term. The question is whether we'll see a catalyst for real buying from here."

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits edged down last week, the government said, and could ease concerns the labor market was deteriorating after April's weak employment growth.

S&P 500 futures rose 9.2 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 56 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 9.75 points.

The Dow has fallen for six straight days, while the S&P rebounded from a two-month low on Wednesday, suggesting investors may use the index's two-day drop of more than 1 percent as a buying opportunity.

Shares of Cisco Systems Inc will be active a day after the network equipment maker issued a weak profit forecast on concerns about global technology spending. The stock fell 7.3 percent to $17.40 in premarket trading.

News Corp reported adjusted earnings that beat expectations late Wednesday and announced another $5 billion in stock buybacks.

With 441 of the S&P 500 companies reporting results through Wednesday morning, 66.7 percent exceeded estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data, versus more than 80 percent at the start of earnings season.

Shares of Avon Products Inc climbed 3.1 percent to $22.28 premarket after Coty US Inc raised its buyout bid by $1.50 per share to $24.75.

Despite market gains, caution prevailed on questions over how the Greek political deadlock would affect the debt crisis. On Wednesday, equities came back from sharp declines after officials agreed to make a 4.2 billion euro bailout payment to Greece.

In another troubling sign from abroad, China's annual growth in imports in April was just 0.3 percent, far below forecasts of an 11 percent increase. Exports managed to grow just 4.9 percent versus expectations of 8.5 percent, data showed.

Investors stayed focused on the turmoil in Europe on Wednesday, sparking another down day, but a deal for another Greek bailout payment helped cut losses late in the session.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)