Australian & NZ dollars subdued, China trade data brushed off

* Aussie down for the week vs USD, but up 1.4 pct vs CAD

* China imports beat expectations but export growth slows

* Market wary ahead of U.S. jobs report

By Cecile Lefort and Naomi Tajitsu

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars struggled to find friends on Friday with investors reluctant to take big positions ahead of the influential U.S. jobs report.

The Aussie AUD=D4 was stuck near 89 U.S. cents, still not far from a 3-1/2-year trough of $0.8820 touched last month. It has shed 0.6 percent for the week with sentiment remaining fragile after a 14.3 percent slump last year.

Even Chinese data failed to stir the market in a big way. China posted an 8.3 percent jump in imports versus forecasts of 5.3 percent, while export growth slowed. News Search ID:nB9N0K2004

China is Australia's key export market so a strong import number should in theory be supportive of the Australian dollar.

Focus is now firmly on the keenly awaited U.S. non-farm payrolls report due later on Friday. ECONUS

An upbeat U.S. figure would fuel expectations for the Federal Reserve to scale back its bond-buying stimulus more quickly and put the U.S. dollar in the driver's seat.

"The market has been pessimistic about anything related to China, Australia and emerging markets," said David Scutt, a trader at Arab Bank Australia.

He said it would take an exceptionally high U.S. employment number for the Aussie to fall sharply as markets are already positioned for a high reading.

Conversely, should the outcome disappoint, Scutt sees potential for the Aussie to springboard to $0.9000.

Support was seen at $0.8855 ahead of $0.8820, while traders cited large option strikes around $0.8900.

Against a broadly depressed Canadian dollar, however, the Aussie was on track to show the largest weekly increase in three months. It was up 1.4 percent since Monday to last trade at C$0.9636 AUDCAD=R .

Likewise, the kiwi gained 1.6 percent this week on its Canadian counterpart, reaching C$0.8984 NZDCAD=R , a peak not seen since 2005.

Against the greenback, the kiwi NZD=D4 was a touch softer at $0.8245. It has been pressured since Thursday when France's Danone DANO.PA announced that it was taking legal action against dairy exporter Fonterra FSF.NZ , New Zealand's largest company. News Search ID:nL6N0KJ3YH

The kiwi struggled broadly, trading at 86.50 yen NZDJPY=R versus a near six-year high of 87.20 yen hit earlier in the week.

It was down against the euro at NZ$1.6490 EURNZD=R as the single currency recovered from a slide to around NZ$1.6390. Against the Aussie AUDNZD=R it traded at NZ$1.0785, pulling back from a near six-year high around NZ$1.0730 matched on Thursday.

The kiwi gained in the first few trading days of 2014, pushing to a near one-month high of $0.8320 earlier this week due to European and Asian demand for New Zealand government bonds, market participants said.

But numerous failed attempts to hold above $0.8300 has prompted investors to shed bets for more gains in the currency, which has been bolstered by expectations that New Zealand interest rates will rise this year.

Traders said the kiwi could be in for more losses later on Friday if a strong reading of U.S. non-farm payrolls increases expectations that the Fed will continue to reduce its monetary stimulus as the economy shows more signs of improving.

"The risk is that it drifts down towards $0.8150 rather than up towards $0.8350," said Tim Kelleher, head of institutional FX sales at ASB, adding that strong bids around $0.8150 would likely limit further losses.

New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= rose, pushing yields on 2019 bonds 2.5 basis points lower.

Australian government bond futures bounced back with the three-year bond contract YTTc1 up 1 tick at 96.910. The 10-year contract added 3.5 ticks to 95.765.

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

((Cecile.Lefort@thomsonreuters.com)(+61 2 9373-1234)(Reuters Messaging: cecile.lefort.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))

Keywords: MARKETS AUSTRALIA/FOREX