(Recasts with reaction to U.S. data, changes dateline, previous LONDON)
NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - The dollar briefly extended gains against the yen on Thursday after data showed initial U.S. weekly jobless claims came in lower than expected.
The dollar rose as high as 93.02 yenin the minutes after the data from around 92.85 prior to the release of the data. It then fell back 92.81 yen.
The U.S. Labor department reported that initial state jobless benefit claims fell to 565,000 in the latest week from a revised 617,000 in the prior week. Markets were expecting claims of 605,000. (Reporting by Nick Olivari)