(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures turned sharply higher on Thursday as a lower-than-expected reading of weekly jobless claims allayed fears of a recession in the world's biggest economy.

A Labor Department report showed the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits came in at 233,000 for the week ended Aug. 3, compared with an estimate of 240,000 as per economists polled by Reuters.

At 08:31 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 135 points, or 0.35%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 31.75 points, or 0.61% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 144 points, or 0.8%.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru)