TOKYO -- The dollar was mixed in quiet Asian trade on Friday as market players grew cautious ahead of the release of key US jobs data, dealers said.

The dollar was changing hands at 91.18 yen in Tokyo morning trade, compared with 91.11 yen in New York late Thursday. The euro edged down to $1.3661 from $1.3704 and to 124.52 yen from 124.87.

All eyes were on US non-farm payroll figures due out later in the day, said Junya Tanase, foreign exchange strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Analyst forecasts were for at least 500,000 job losses in December and a rise in the unemployment rate, which would highlight the weak state of the world's biggest economy.

Market watchers said there was a chance that the report could be even gloomier than expected, which could weigh on the dollar.

"Weaker-than-expected figures would lead to dollar selling," said Tanase.

The British pound dropped to $1.5187 from $1.5230, giving back some Thursday's gains, which came after a 50-basis-point interest rate cut by the Bank of England (BoE) to an all-time low of 1.5 percent.

Some traders had apparently been betting on an even bigger reduction.

The euro and the British pound could rise further against the dollar in the near term, but the rebound may not last, Standard Chartered analysts said.

"We expect the European Central Bank and the BoE will cut policy rates further ... suggesting the current rally versus the US dollar will likely fail," they wrote in a note.

Lower interest rates generally make currencies less attractive to investors.