LONDON: The dollar fell against the euro and yen on Friday as markets awaited the release of key monthly US jobs data.

In late morning deals here, the European single currency rose to 1.5065 dollars from 1.5045 dollars late in New York on Thursday.

Against the Japanese currency, the dollar fell to 88.24 yen from 88.30 yen late on Thursday.

Markets expect the Labor Department's November jobs report to show unemployment steady at a daunting 10.2 percent and that the economy lost 125,000 jobs last month, down from 190,000 in October.

Meanwhile the euro gained against the dollar after the European Central Bank's policy meeting on Thursday where it signalled that it will begin unwinding some of its stimulus measures aimed at tackling the financial crisis.

Governor Jean-Claude Trichet said a 12-month unlimited loan of central bank cash on December 16 would be the last, after announcing it would keep lending rates at a record low of 1.0 percent.

"The ECB was more hawkish than we and the market expected," Barclays analysts told clients.

"The main message from the ECB... is that it is prepared to withdraw from its non-standard operations at a somewhat quicker pace than we expected," they added.

Investors were also waiting for Japan to announce huge stimulus measures after its central bank earlier this week pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into markets to shore up the economy. But Japan's government on Friday postponed its announcement until next week.

The Nikkei business daily, citing unnamed officials, said the package would be worth 24 trillion yen (272 billion dollars), of which 7.1 trillion yen (80.5 billion dollars) would be actual spending.

The new package may prove to be disappointing owing to disagreement between the ruling party and its junior partners on the size and composition, said Calyon analyst Mitul Kotecha.

In London on Friday, the euro was changing hands at 1.5065 dollars against 1.5045 dollars late on Thursday, at 132.94 yen (132.88), 0.9060 pounds (0.9098) and 1.5063 Swiss francs (1.5069).

The dollar stood at 88.24 yen (88.30) and 0.9998 Swiss francs (1.0013).

The pound was at 1.6622 dollars (1.6532).

On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold eased to 1,206.51 dollars an ounce from 1,208.75 dollars late on Thursday, when it also reached a record high of 1,226.56 dollars an ounce.