TOKYO - The dollar fell against the euro but gained on the yen in Asia on Friday as traders braced for a report expected to show massive job losses in the United States in February.

The euro gained to 1.2570 dollars in Tokyo morning trade from 1.2538 in New York late Thursday, and to 123.70 yen from 122.93.

The greenback rose to 98.44 yen from 98.03.

The dollar was under pressure ahead of data expected to show that the US economy shed about 650,000 jobs in February, which would push up job losses to more than four million since the recession began in December 2007.

Traders bought back the euro and pound a day after the Bank of England and the European Central Bank slashed their key lending rates to record lows in an attempt to encourage banks to lend.

Investors welcomed the Bank of England's announcement that it would become the first European central bank to use "quantitative easing" to boost the money supply, said Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp strategist Hideaki Inoue.

The Bank of England cut is main rate by half a point to 0.50 percent, the lowest level in its 315-year history, and said it would pump 75 billion pounds of newly created money into the financial system to combat a credit crunch.

The pound strengthened to 1.4170 dollars from 1.4113.

The ECB meanwhile slashed rates by 50 basis points to 1.5 percent and drastically revised its forecasts, predicting the eurozone economy will shrink 2.7 percent in 2009.

"Markets still have the impression that the eurozone economy still has problems that need to be resolved. While the euro and the pound seem to have bottomed out temporarily, they risk falling again," said Inoue.