European shares down 4 pct on weak start to Wall St

LONDON, Nov 20 (Reuters) - European stocks extended losses in Thursday afternoon trade to more than 4 percent, hitting a new five-and-a half-year low, after U.S. stock markets opened weaker on concerns about a prolonged global recession.

At 1449 GMT, the FTSEurofirst .FTEU3 index of top European shares was down 4.2 percent at 778.09 points, having fallen as far as 776.06.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX and the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC were down 1.8-2.3 percent.

Commodities were among the biggest losers on the European index. BHP Billiton (BLT.L), Anglo American (AAL.L), Vedanta Resources (VED.L), Kazakhmys (KAZ.L), Xstrata (XTA.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L) fell between 2.5 and 13.3 percent.

Oils were weaker, with crude prices CLc1 down more than 5 percent to below $51 a barrel.

Total (TOTF.PA), ENI (ENI.MI), and BP (BP.L) were down between 4.3 and 5 percent.

(Reporting by Brian Gorman)