Mubasher: The number of unemployed individuals applying for benefits went up last week, weekly official figures showed on Thursday.

US unemployment claims, which gauges layoffs, increased by 9,000 week-on-week to 220,000 claims in the week ended 10 August, compared with the upwardly revised total of 211,000 a week earlier, the US Department of Labor said.

The more stable 4-week average of claims, which usually offers a more accurate picture of the labour market conditions, edged up by 1,000 to 213,750 from the prior week’s upwardly revised average of 212,750.

The initial seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ended 3 August stabilised at 1.2% from the previous week’s unrevised rate.

The seasonally adjusted figure for the jobless individuals already receiving benefits in the US jumped by 39,000 to 1.726 million during the seven days to 3 August, compared to the preceding week’s upwardly revised 1.687 million.

The advance unadjusted number of actual initial claims filed under state programmes reached a total of 186,028 in the week to 10 August, rising by 6,151 claims or 3.4% from the claims submitted last week.

Meanwhile, this came above 180,038 initial claims registered the same week last year.

By 1:09 pm GMT, the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a six major rivals, stood still at 97.98.