Mubasher: US unemployment claims rose 4,000 week-on-week to 239,000 claims in the week ended 9 February, according to data released on Thursday.

The more stable monthly average of claims rose 6,750 to 231,750 from the previous week's upwardly revised average of 231,750, the US Department of Labor said.

This marked the highest average seen since 27 January, 2018 when it reached 234,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ended 2 February stood unchanged at 1.2% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The provisional seasonally adjusted figure for the insured jobless individuals in the US jumped 37,000 to 1.733 million during the week ended 2 February, compared to the prior week’s unrevised 1.736 million.

The initial unadjusted number of actual initial claims filed under state programmes totalled 242,257 in the week ended 9 February, dropping by 12,079 claims or 4.7% from the claims filed in the preceding week, while initial claims were 232,805 in the same week last year.

By 1:53 pm GMT, the US dollar index edged down 0.09% to 97.0390.