Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. dollar was poised for a first weekly loss in five against the euro on speculation a report today will show the economy in September lost jobs for the first month in more than two years after Hurricane Katrina struck.

The U.S. currency is set to end a four-week rally against the euro and a three-week jump versus the yen on concern destruction wrought by Katrina on the Gulf Coast will hurt growth. The euro yesterday rose the most since January 2004 versus the dollar after the European Central Bank suggested it may raise interest rates.

``There is heightened concern that U.S. growth is slowing,'' said Tohru Sasaki, chief foreign-exchange strategist at JPMorgan Chase Bank in Tokyo. ``Employment figures that are worse than expected will further fuel selling of the dollar.''

The dollar traded at $1.2169 against the euro at 8.28 a.m. in Tokyo, from $1.2164 late yesterday in New York, according to electronic foreign-exchange dealing system EBS. The U.S. currency was also at 113.51 yen from 113.30. The dollar may fall to $1.23 versus the euro and 112.50 yen today, Sasaki said.

U.S. employers cut 150,000 workers from payrolls in September, the first drop since May 2003, after adding 169,000 employees in August, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of 73 economists. The unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 5.0 percent from 4.9 percent.

Katrina wiped out businesses and pushed energy prices to records, displacing thousands of workers.

``Hurricane Katrina will definitely affect the numbers'' on jobs, said Besa Deda, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney.

The euro rose yesterday against the dollar and the yen after ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the bank is prepared to raise interest rates for the first time since 2000.

Trichet told a press conference in Athens that the bank is ready to increase rates at ``any time.''

He was more specific about higher rates than colleagues such as German central bank head Axel Weber, who in the past two weeks said oil prices may spur faster inflation.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kosuke Goto at at kgoto2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 6, 2005 20:59 EDT