Australian, New Zealand dollars recover after battering

* Aussie, kiwi perk up after Chinese-inspired battering

* Aussie weighed down by selling vs yen, proxy sales

* Eyes on US Federal Reserve speakers

By Gyles Beckford

WELLINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars were steady on Friday against a broadly firmer U.S. currency, after clawing back losses suffered in the previous session in the wake of weak Chinese data.

The Aussie AUD=D4 was last trading at $0.8990, having eased from a session high of $0.9015. It had plunged to a one-week low of $0.8937 on Thursday triggered by soft data that renewed concerns about the pace of Chinese growth.

A mix of short covering and profit-taking helped lift the Aussie despite a raft of mixed U.S. data, which supported the greenback.

Investors focused on the positive U.S. numbers - fewer jobless claims, and manufacturing activity at a four-year high - over a separate, weak report about manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region.

On top of that, euro zone data emphasised the slow recovery and fragile outlook for the region.

Soft U.S. data in recent weeks has largely been explained away as affected by the return of severe winter weather.

"The question for the market remains whether to look through weak US data," ANZ analysts said in a market note.

"For now the answer is yes, but with weakening Chinese and European manufacturing activity we suspect the U.S. dollar will find supply easy to come by."

Market participants said the Aussie was feeling some pressure from being sold as a proxy by investors cutting short U.S. dollar-Chinese yuan positions, and some mild selling against the yen AUDJPY=R and the euro EURAUD=R .

Still, it was little changed on the week, with near-term support at $0.8950 and below that $0.8915, with offers emerging at $0.9040.

Later on Friday market participants will be monitoring European and Canadian retail data, U.S. home sales numbers and speeches by the Federal Reserve's James Bullard and Richard Fisher.

Fisher, who is a voting member of the Fed's Open Market Committee, is regarded as one of its most hawkish officials, and comments in favour of tighter policy would likely support the U.S. dollar.

The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 was sitting around $0.8300, having recouped its Chinese-inspired slide, which had sent it crashing through support levels.

The kiwi's near-term support was seen around $0.8250/60, and more substantially at $0.8235, with resistance at $0.8354.

It has generally outperformed the commodity currency pack because of the likelihood the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will become the first major central bank to start tightening rates at its March 13 monetary policy statement. Href="NewsSearch">NZ/POLL

New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= had a mild offered tone, sending yields a tick higher along the curve.

Australian debt futures were also softer, the three-year bond contract YTTc1 down 0.05 points to 96.960, while the 10-year contract eased 0.06 points to 95.855.

(Editing by Chris Gallagher)

((Gyles.Beckford@thomsonreuters.com)(+64 4 802 7977)(Reuters Messaging: gyles.beckford.reuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS AUSTRALIA/FOREX