* Dollar weakens further, continues to support oil prices * French oil port strike spreads to a refinery, lifts oil * Coming up: US weekly jobless claims, 8:30 a.m. EDT Thurs NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures prices rose on Thursday, continuing to be lifted by a strike at France's top oil port and the tumbling dollar. Crude prices jumped to a five-month peak above $84 a barrel intraday on Wednesday, also on lift from the weak dollar and after the government reported a larger-than-expected drop in gasoline stockpiles. A drop in both gasoline and distillate inventories allowed investors to shrug off the U.S. Energy Information Administration's data that crude oil stocks rose more than expected. [EIA/] FUNDAMENTALS * On the New York Mercantile Exchange, November crude CLX0 rose 45 cents, or 0.54 percent, to $83.68 a barrel at 8:13 a.m. EDT (1213 GMT), trading from $83.24 to $83.95. * A strike at a French oil port expanded to the refining sector on Thursday as one out of four plants in the region joined protests that have already pushed Europe's gasoline prices to a five-month high. Talks between Fos Lavera strikers and the port management were still in a deadlock and no meetings were planned. [ID:nLDE6960HG] MARKETS NEWS * The dollar's downtrend gathered pace on Thursday as it slid to a 15-year low versus the Japanese yen and an all-time low against the Swiss franc on the prospect of more money-printing by the Federal Reserve. The greenback was weaker against the euro and the dollar index .DXY was down. [USD/] * World stocks shot to a five-month high on widespread expectations of further easing by central banks. [MKTS/GLOB] * Gold scaled another record peak on the back of a falling dollar. [GOL/] UPCOMING EVENTS/DATA * U.S. Labor Department releases data on initial jobless benefits claims for the week ended Oct. 2 at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast 455,000 new filings after 453,000 in the prior week. * The U.S. Energy Information Administration's natural gas storage report is set to be released at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Thursday. A Reuters' analyst survey forecast storage would be up 78 billion cubic feet. * U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for September to be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) on Friday. 8:13 LAST NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT DAY AGO CHNG CHNG VOL VOL CLc1 83.68 0.45 0.5% 83.24 83.95 26,309 336,832 CLc2 84.39 0.40 0.5% 83.96 84.65 11,236 223,945 LCOc1 85.45 0.39 0.5% 85.11 85.71 39,867 155,267 RBc1 2.1736 0.0177 0.8% 2.1580 2.1740 2,062 61,016 RBc2 2.1600 0.0122 0.6% 2.1486 2.1622 2,538 29,678 HOc1 2.3211 0.0133 0.6% 2.3100 2.3247 1,655 51,698 HOc2 2.3379 0.0111 0.5% 2.3309 2.3416 888 29,505 * NYMEX crude oil for November CLc1 rose 45 cents to $83.68 a barrel by 8:13 a.m. in volume of 26,309 lots. (Reporting by Robert Gibbons)

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