FOREX-Dollar higher after U.S. weekly jobless claims data

* Dollar higher after U.S. initial weekly claims data

* APEC ministers to call for "market-oriented" forex rates

* Pound continues to struggle (Recasts, updates prices, adds detail)

NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The dollar gained on Thursday with the advance bolstered by a U.S. report showing initial U.S. weekly jobless claims were lower than expected.

The weekly report has had greater impact on trading in recent months because of investor concern that the U.S. economic recovery will be tepid and create few new jobs to replace those lost during the recession.

The U.S. Labor Department reported that initial state jobless benefit claims fell to 502,000 in the latest week from a revised 514,000 in the prior week. The consensus forecast was for initial claims of 510,000. [ID:nOAT004353] [ID:nN11377609].

With the release of the U.S. data, investors now shift their focus to a meeting of Asia-Pacific nations and other Asian regional issues, including a U.S. state visit to China next week.

"Dollar/yen perked up a little bit on the news which is no real surprise considering that jobless claims continue to fall, which is encouraging," said Omer Esiner, senior market analyst at Travelex Global Business Payments in Washington.

In early New York trade, the dollar was up 0.6 percent at 90.35 yen JPY=. The euro was down 0.4 percent at $1.4923 EUR= after touching $1.5049 on trading platform EBS on Wednesday. Analysts said some of the euro weakness was technical after it failed to break through resistance and hold above $1.5000.