Reuters Finance News, Australia

SYDNEY, May 9 (Reuters) - The Australian dollar held on to modest gains against the U.S. currency on Friday ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's quarterly monetary policy statement, where the central bank is expected to reiterate its pledge to curb inflation pressures.

* The RBA's statement will be released at 11:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) and analysts are watching to see if it raises its near term inflation forecasts. The RBA kept interest rates unchanged on Tuesday at 7.25 percent, but said it was keeping a close on domestic demand.

* On Thursday, strong jobs data underlined the resilence of the Australian economy in the face of the global credit crisis. The economy added 25,400 new jobs in April, easily beating expectations of a 10,000 gain, raising the likelihood the central bank would to maintain a tightening bias [ID:nSYD43296].

* By 9:20 a.m., the Aussie AUD= was at $0.9440/42 against the U.S. dollar, up from $0.9403/08 late here on Thursday, but still some way from a two-week high of $0.9507 struck earlier this week.

* Analysts said firm commodity prices, widening interest rate differentials between the United States and Australia and better appetite for higher-yielding currencies is likely to support to the Aussie in the near term.

* The Aussie hovered near eight-months high against the kiwi AUDNZD=R, after weak New Zealand jobs data on Thursday (see [ID:nWEL301036]) backed a view that rates there were likely to fall later this year while Australia was likely to remain on hold.

* The Aussie slipped from two-month highs against the euro AUDEUR=R after the single currency rebounded on comments from European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet, who said inflation remains his top concern, signalling the bank won't cut interest rates any time soon. Earlier, the ECB kept benchmark interest rates unchanged at 4 percent.

* The Bank of England also kept rates at 5.0 percent, but analysts say a slowing economy will force it to cut borrowing costs next month, even though inflation is heading higher.

* Australian bond futures were firmer, drawing support from firm U.S. Treasuries. But traders said hawkish comments from the RBA could see bonds give up some of those gains later in the day.

* Three-year Australian bond futures YTTc1 rose by 0.04 points to 93.70, while the 10-year bond contract YTCc1 added 0.08 points to 93.78. (Reporting by Anirban Nag; Editing by Jonathan Standing)