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

US unemployment claims, which gauges layoffs, rose by 2,000 week-on-week to 208,000 claims in the week ended 14 September, compared with the upwardly revised total of 206,000 the week before, the US Department of Labor said.

The more stable 4-week average of claims, which usually offers a more accurate insight into the labour market conditions, went down by 750 to 212,250 from the previous week’s upwardly revised average of 213,000.

The provisional seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate for the week ended 7 September stabilised at 1.2% from the prior week’s unrevised rate.

The seasonally adjusted figure for the jobless individuals already receiving benefits in the US dropped by 13,000 to 1.661 million during the seven days to 7 September, compared to the previous week’s upwardly revised 1.674 million.

The initial unadjusted number of actual initial claims submitted under state programmes hit a total of 172,060 in the week to 14 September, climbing by 11,232 claims or 7.3% from the claims filed last week.

This was lower than 173,624 initial claims registered the comparable week last year.

By 12:51 pm GMT, the US dollar index, which gauges the greenback against a six major rivals, fell by 0.28% to 98.29.