The dollar inched higher on Friday, but gains were limited ahead of U.S. employment data that traders say could shed light on whether the Federal Reserve will soon end an 18-month cycle of dollar-boosting interest rate rises. Analysts expect the data, due at 1330 GMT, to show that around 200,000 new jobs were created in the United States in December, suggesting the employment market is in good shape. Some dealers said even solid jobs growth may lend little support to the dollar, which took a battering earlier in the week after minutes from the Fed's December meeting suggested the central bank may have few rate hikes left up its sleeve. "The market mood has really turned in favour of dollar selling since the Fed minutes," said Hideaki Furumaya, forex manager at Trust & Custody Services Bank in Tokyo. "Even if we get a strong number there should be plenty of people looking to sell into any rally." By 0615 GMT, the dollar was trading at 116.05 yen , up from around 115.90 yen in late New York trade. Some traders said strong jobs data could lift the dollar into the mid- to upper-116 yen region, while support was seen around 115.50 yen. The euro was down slightly at $1.2090 after dollar/yen gains helped to drag the single currency further from a two-month high of $1.2145 touched earlier in the week. Some traders said the dollar gained support in Asian trading hours from talk that central banks in the region were buying the currency. South Korea's vice finance minister said on Friday that the country would do its "utmost" to stabilise the market after its currency climbed to an eight-year high against the dollar a day earlier. Some traders said that South Korea's central bank, as well as Taiwan and Singapore's, had intervened on Friday to rein in their rallying currencies.