Mubasher: US unemployment claims decreased more than expected during the week ended 10 March, after rising from 48-year low in the previous week.

The number of Americans claiming benefits declined by 4,000 to 226,000 last week, seasonally adjusted data by the Labour Department showed on Thursday.

Economists, polled by Wall Street Journal (WSJ), had expected a slighter decline to 227,000.

Data also showed that continuing jobless claims, which lasts for longer than a week, increased by 4,000 to 1.879 million for the week ended 3 March.

By 01:00 pm GMT, the EUR/USD pair slipped 0.23% to $1.2340.