Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

    NEW YORK, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The dollar fell against most major currencies on Thursday amid expectations that the U.S. non-farm payroll data to be released on Friday would be very weak, adding to the case for further rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

    The U.S. Labor Department would release its non-farm employment report for November. Analysts said the report would show payrolls drop sharply and unemployment rate rises to highest level in 15 years.

    U.S. private employers cut 250,000 jobs in November, according to a report released by Automatic Data Processing (ADP). It was the biggest job loss of private sector in seven years. Usually a weak ADP employment report was followed by disappointing non-farm payroll data.

    Investors boosted bets on an aggressive rate cut from the Federal Reserve later this month. Some expected the central bank would lower its key rate to 0.25 percent from 1 percent.

    The European Central Bank said on Thursday that it has cut benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points to 2.5 percent. The Bank of England slashed its key rate by 100 basis points to 2 percent, the lowest since 1939. The decisions didn't have significant impact on currency trading as the market has already digested expected rate cuts in previous sessions.

    The euro bought 1.2793 dollars in late New York trading compared with 1.2655 dollars it bought late Wednesday. The pound rose to 1.4748 dollars from 1.4722 dollars.

    The dollar fell to 1.1960 Swiss francs from 1.2141 Swiss francs, and fell to 92.34 Japanese yen from 93.09 Japanese yen. It rose to1.2772 Canadian dollars from 1.2605 Canadian dollars.