Mubasher: US unemployment claims declined 4,000 week-on-week to 231,000 claims in the week ended 1 December, but hovered near five-month high, data released on Thursday showed.

The more stable monthly average of claims went up 4,250 to 228,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised average of 223,750, the US Department of Labor said.

The initial seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ended 24 November came in at 1.1%, edging down 0.1% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The provisional seasonally adjusted figure for the insured jobless individuals in the US fell 74,000 to 1.631 million during the week ended 24 November, compared to the prior week’s downwardly revised 1.705 million.

The advance unadjusted number of actual initial claims filed under state programmes totalled 315,852  in the week ended 1 December, rising by 97,194 claims or 44.5% from the claims filed in the prior week, while initial claims reached 325,988 in the same week last year.

By 1:30 pm GMT, the index declined 0.20% to 96.8800.