CURRENCIES: Dollar Down Vs. Yen And Pound Ahead Of Jobs Report

The dollar edged down against the yen and British pound in Asian trading Friday, while staying nearly flat against the euro as investors awaited key U.S. jobs data later in the session.

According to forecasts, nonfarm payrolls probably fell for the 22nd straight month in October, economists said ahead of Friday's report from the Labor Department. The report will be released at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.

The unemployment rate likely rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 9.9%, which would be the highest in 26 years. Some analysts are predicting a jobless rate of 10% or even slightly higher in October.

"It is probably too early to confidently trade negative payrolls surprises as U.S. dollar-negative and positive payrolls surprises as U.S. dollar-bullish. Recent price action shows that FX is still heavily dependent on equities, and as such, we would expect that a worse-than-expected NFP outcome would be USD bullish," said Sue Trinh, senior currency strategist RBC Capital Markets, in emailed comments.

The dollar bought 90.45 yen, down from 90.73 yen in late North American trading Thursday.

The euro was buying $1.4872, a few ticks below $1.4874 late Thursday, and the British pound was trading at $1.6605, above $1.6581.

The Australian dollar was buying 91.45 U.S. cents, up 0.5%

Australia's central bank raised its inflation and economic-growth forecasts Friday, and hinted at more interest-rate tightening ahead.

On Thursday, the U.S. dollar fell against the Japanese yen while rising against the euro, with foreign-exchange traders playing off the European Central Bank's decision to leave interest rates unchanged and the Bank of England's move to boost its quantitative-easing program.