At 13:30 GMT, the US Department of Labor showed that the unemployment claims were at 268K during the week ending in November 12, the lowest reading since March 2020, worse than forecasts of 260K, but slightly lower than the previous reading of 269K.

The US dollar fell against a basket of currencies on Thursday, to head for the second straight daily loss due to profit-taking from a 16-month peak, as inflation fears eased after the broad drop in oil prices, ahead of the weekly unemployment claims reading in the US.

The dollar index fell 0.2% to 95.63 points, after opening at 95.79 points, and hit a high at 95.84 points.

The index fell 0.15% yesterday, the first loss in 3 days, due to profit-taking from a 16-month peak of 96.24 points.

In addition to profit-taking the greenback fell after oil prices hit 6-week low, which raised hopes that the ongoing drop in oil prices would curb the rising US inflation rate.

These concerns rose last week, after the US consumer price index rose by 6.2% y/y in October, which is the highest level since 1990, which raised the chances of the near tightening of the US monetary policy to reduce these inflationary pressures.

At 13:30 GMT, the US unemployment claims reading is expected down to 260K in the week ending November 12, from 267K the previous reading, the lowest reading since March 2020.

European stocks fell on Thursday, and pulled back from all-time high, to head for the first daily loss in 7 session due to profit-taking.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell 0.1% as of 11:55 GMT, after closing higher by 0.1% yesterday and hit its all-time high at 490.58 points.

The energy sector saw the largest losses in Europe today, with a drop of more than 1.5%, after oil prices fell to the lowest level in a month and a half.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% today ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index closed 0.3% lower yesterday.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.1%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.1%, and Germany's DAX index fell less than 0.1%, while the UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.2%.

Gold prices fell on Thursday, to head for the third loss in 4 days, due to a slowdown in safe haven demand amid hopes that the ongoing drop in oil prices would curb the rising global inflation rate.

Gold prices fell 0.45% to $1,858.74, from the opening level of trading today at $1,867.16, and recorded the highest level at $1,870.94.

Gold closed higher by 0.7% yesterday, after taking a pause on Tuesday due to profit-taking from a 5-month high of $1,877.12 an ounce.

This gain came after data showed that the UK's inflation rate hit the highest level since 2011.

This fueled concerns about global inflation and the ability of global central banks to deal with this risk, which increased demand for gold as a safe haven.

Oil prices fell on Thursday, and hit 6-week low due to news that the US intends to cooperate with China and Japan for a coordinated release of fuel reserves to reduce energy prices.

These developments raised hopes that the ongoing drop in oil prices would curb the rising global inflation rate, which weighs down on demand for gold as a shelter from inflation.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF rose 0.88 metric tonnes yesterday, with the total at 976.87 metric tonnes.