Live news: US jobless claims top 200,000 for first time in eight weeks

New applicants for unemployment aid in the US rose above 200,000 for the first time in eight weeks, running slightly counter to a recent string of strong labour market data.

There were 211,000 initial jobless claims in the week ended March 4, up from 190,000 a week earlier, according to US labour department data released Thursday. Economists had forecast 195,000 claims.

Traders now turn their attention to non-farm payrolls data for February, on Friday. The previous report prompted a reassessment of how aggressively the Federal Reserve might need to be to raise interest rates to rein in inflation.