NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks were bought up on Thursday, with all the major indices finishing with appreciable gains.

Jobless claims for last week held steady.

"We had a strong selloff over the last few days, and it doesn't take much to create even the underpinnings for a modest rally," Quincy Krosby, LPL Financial's chief global strategist, told CNBC Thursday.

"Again, we're back to bad news being good news," he added.

Tech stocks took center stage Thursday, with the Nasdaq Composite forging a 123.45 points or 1.13 percent gain to 11,082.00.

The Standard and Poor's 500 surged 29.59 points or 0.75 percent to 3,963.51.

The Dow Jones industrials gained 183.56 points or 0.55 percent to 33,781.48.

In the week ending December 3, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 230,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 225,000 to 226,000. The 4-week moving average was 230,000, an increase of 1,000 from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 228,750 to 229,000, the Labor Department reported.

With the unemployment data out of the way, traders are now looking to next week's consumer price index reading to see how inflation is faring.

"Markets are looking like they've got a little window here for a relief rally before next week's CPI data, since we were oversold here," Dennis Dick, a market structure analyst and trader at Triple D Trading, told Reuters Thursday.

"You're just starting to see a few people coming in buying the dip."

The U.S. dollar came off the boil Thursday with all major currencies making solid gains. The euro cruised up to 1.0559 approaching the New York close Thursday. The British pound swelled to 1.2239. The Swiss franc jumped to 0.9362.

The Canadian dollar jumped to 135.83. The Australian dollar appreciated to 0.6772. The New Zealand dollar was sharply higher at 0.6377.

Only therJapanese yen stayed steady, finishing the day unchanged at 136.69.

On overseas equity markets, in London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.23 percent. The German Dax inched up 0.02 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 dipped 0.20 percent.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.40 percent.

Thursday's biggest gainer was Hong Kong's Hang Seng which advanced 635 points or 3.38 percent to 19,450.23.

In China, the Shanghai Composite edged down 0.07 percent.

The Australian All Ordinaries deflated 0.72 percent. In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 rose 0.05 percent. South Korea's Kospi Composite declined 0.49 percent.