* Aussie, kiwi dollars gain on Chinese numbers
* Japan's Kuroda, Aso remark on yen's recent rapid moves
* Eyes on G20 meetings in Washington, ECB next week
By Patrick Graham
LONDON, April 15 (Reuters) - The major currencies seen as most dependent on China were the main gainers on Friday after a batch of GDP data offered hope that the world's second largest economy is heading for a rebound after racking up its slowest growth in seven years.
The Australian AUD= and New Zealand dollars NZD= , generally in more bullish form since long-term downtrends bottomed out in January, rose 0.3 and 0.9 percent respectively, also helped by another turn upward in oil prices.
The dollar .DXY , euro EUR= and yen JPY= were roughly flat ahead of a G20 meeting in Washington looked to for signs from financial leaders on the next stages of their efforts to drag most of the developed world out of a debilitating cycle of debt and very low inflation.
The U.S. currency is up 0.75 percent on the week in trade-weighted terms, helped by a broad improvement in investors' appetite for risk, which has drawn money out of the euro and the yen.
Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) strategist Thu Lan Nguyen said its gains against the euro may also be the result of expectations of another pro-easing message from the European Central Bank next week.
"The gains for the commodities-linked currencies on China's data is really the only story this morning," she said
"The general theme is a slight recovery of the dollar as well as some euro weakness, which may have to do with people preparing for the ECB meeting."
The last G20 meeting in Shanghai in February is now generally seen as having marked the start of a move by the U.S. Federal Reserve to quietly weaken the dollar in the hope doing so would stabilize world markets and allow it to push on with rises in interest rates this year.
The run in to Friday's gathering has been marked by rhetoric from Japanese officials used in the past to prepare markets for intervention to weaken the yen.
Japan's Finance Minister Taro Aso said he had expressed deep concerns to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew over one-sided currency moves. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda also said in Washington that the yen's "excessive" rises have been corrected somewhat in the past few days. it is the Ministry of Finance, not the central bank, that determines Japan's currency policy, Kuroda's remarks were notable in that it was the first time he described the yen's appreciation as "excessive."
Traders in Asia reported that Japanese importers had bought dollars on Friday as a "gotobi" date - a multiple of five - on which books are traditionally settled.
"Today is 'gotobi,' so it's natural for the dollar to rise a little bit," said Masashi Murata, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.
By GMT 0756, the euro had edged down about 0.1 percent to $1.1259 EUR= compared to a six-month high of $1.1465 touched on Tuesday. The yen was roughly steady at 109.35 yen per dollar JPY= , down from this week's more than 17-month high of 107.63. (Editing by Andrew Heavens)