(Reuters) - The euro fell on Thursday after the European Central Bank president appeared to back a market view that interest rates will rise once more this year, but provided no clear signal on any further euro-zone tightening.

Speaking at a news conference after the ECB raised its key lending rate to 3.25 percent, as expected, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet provided no clues on the outlook for rates in 2007, disappointing some euro bulls looking for a more hawkish tone.

“It was pretty much as expected, signaling they are going to hike in December, but not clear on what happens after,” said Robert Sinche, head of global FX at Bank of America in New York. “We don’t think there was anything out of Trichet today that’s going to break out of the ranges.”

With the ECB meeting out of the way, the market’s attention was already swinging to the U.S. non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which will give a fresh take on the health of the U.S. job market.

The data are expected to show around 125,000 jobs were created in September, but a weaker reading could intensify speculation that a slowing U.S. economy may lead the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates in coming months.

The euro was trading at $1.2685, down from $1.2710 ahead of Trichet’s press conference and off around 0.2 percent on the day.

Some dealers noted that the euro had failed to break out of its recent tight trading range. The currency has been trapped in a range of $1.26 to $1.29 for much of the past few months.

Trichet also steered away from using the word “vigilance” with regard to the ECB’s stance on inflation, which the central bank chief has often used in the past to telegraph near-term rate rises.

The euro also slipped to session lows against the yen after Trichet said he stood by his recent comments at a Group of Seven meeting in Singapore, where he said that the value of the yen should reflect Japan’s recovery from deflation.

The euro was down 0.3 percent at 149.35 yen, well below a record peak of 150.73 struck in late August.

“I would look for a break of $1.2670 on the euro and we haven’t seen that yet,” said Liz Bussanich, vice president of foreign exchange at Bank of Montreal in New York.

The pound was under pressure after the Bank of England left rates steady at 4.75 percent as expected, disappointing some sterling bulls who were betting on the outside chance of a rate rise.

The Swiss franc was also a big mover, falling sharply after Swiss National Bank board member Philipp Hildebrand said that the Swiss franc’s appreciation over recent decades appeared to have come to an end in the past four years.