* World stocks bounce as Wall Street opens up
* U.S. jobless claims fall to lowest since April
* French banking concerns, funding worries linger
(Updates to U.S. open)
By Leah Schnurr and Natsuko Waki
NEW YORK/LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Firmer U.S. stocks pulled world shares higher on Thursday as strong U.S. jobs data took some of the focus away from renewed fears about the health of the euro zone banking system.
The U.S. dollar and the euro both jumped more than 4.0 percent against the Swiss franc to hit session highs. Talk of a temporary trading band in the euro/Swiss franc pair helped buoy the euro and the dollar, according to Dan Dorrow, head of research at Faros Trading in Stamford, Connecticut.
U.S. initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 7,000 to a seasonally adjusted 395,000, the lowest level since early April and below economists' forecasts for 400,000. For details, see [ID:nN1E77A099]
"We'll see what happens next week, but the outlook for the August U.S. employment report is still for a result as good as it was in July, maybe better," said Pierre Ellis, a senior economist at Decision Economics in New York.
The anemic pace of growth in the first half of the year has fueled worries of another recession and the improvement in the labor market could help allay those fears. Even so, the optimism generated by the claims report was dampened somewhat by a surprise widening in the trade deficit in June.
U.S. stocks opened up more than 1.0 percent, helped by a rebound in bank shares the day after speculation of trouble at French banks took markets sharply lower.
European shares also cut losses in choppy trade after French President Nicolas Sarkozy office said he was to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss euro zone issues. [.EU]
The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> rose 0.5 percent after earlier losses, while European stocks <.FTEU3> were off just 0.2 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 109.06 points, or 1.02 percent, to 10,829.00. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 12.68 points, or 1.13 percent, to 1,133.44. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> climbed 34.91 points, or 1.47 percent, to 2,415.96.
Nonetheless, markets were on edge after banking sources told Reuters that one bank in Asia had cut credit lines to major French lenders while others in the region were reviewing trades and counterparty risks due to concerns about the exposure of French banks to peripheral euro zone bonds. [ID:nL4E7JB020]
The dollar reached a session high of 0.7614 francs
(Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani)