Stock index futures across America pointed to a lower opening on Thursday, on the back of weaker global markets as the Dollar marched ahead after the Government reported that initial jobless claims surged lesser than expected.

As per data released by the Labor Department, initial unemployment claims hiked by 1,000 as compared to the figure recorded last week to 434,000 after falling for 2 consecutive weeks. Analysts had predicted a number of 447,000.

"The weekly initial claims doesn't strike me as terribly meaningful one way or the other ... The data doesn't change my mind about tomorrow's number because we'll be looking at two different parts of the month", said Craig Peckham, equity trading strategist at Jefferies & Co In New York.

2.8 points were lost by the S&P 500 futures, which were below the fair value, and the Dow Jones industrial average futures slipped by 24 points. NASDAQ 100 futures, on the other hand, fell by 2.5 points.

Despite the better-than-expected initial jobless claims data, equities have not been moved much, ahead of the eagerly awaited and closely watched report for monthly non-farm payrolls which is due on Friday.