* Dollar holds to overnight gains made vs yen and euro
* Greenback continues to pull away from 18-mth low marked vs yen
* Aussie on track for 1.7 pct loss on the week
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, May 6 (Reuters) - The dollar held gains against the yen and euro early on Friday ahead of the April U.S. non-farm payrolls due later in the day that could support the greenback.
The dollar stood steady at 107.24 yen JPY= , having gained for three straight days to pull away from an 18-month low of 105.55 plumbed on Tuesday.
The yen, which jumped after the Bank of Japan opted to stand pat on monetary policy last week, had some of its gains trimmed after Japanese officials said they could act if needed to halt its rise. Investors, however, remain sceptical whether an intervention by Japan would have any lasting effect. euro, which had risen to an eight-month peak of $1.1616 on Tuesday, was effectively unchanged at $1.1404 EUR= after losing 0.8 percent overnight. Traders attributed the common currency's fall to covering of dollar short positions ahead of Friday's U.S. jobs data.
A Reuters survey showed economists expect U.S. payrolls likely rose by 202,000 in April after increasing by 215,000 in March. ECONUS
Investors only see a 13 percent chance that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at its June meeting, according to CME's FedWatch, and a less-than-50-percent chance of a hike at every meeting until December.
Makoto Noji, currency strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, reckons that the ebb in U.S. rate hike expectations has made the currency market vulnerable to a positive surprise from the jobs data.
"The U.S. jobs report may not be able to single-handedly help the dollar reverse its losses suffered over the past few weeks, but the data could still serve as a catalyst for the dollar to begin its rebound," Noji wrote.
The dollar index was flat at 93.751 .DXY after touching a 3-1/2-month low off 91.919 on Tuesday.
Elsewhere, the Australian dollar nudged up 0.1 percent to $0.7473 AUD=D4 .
The Aussie was poised to lose 1.7 percent on the week during which it retreated to a seven-week low of $0.7467 after the Reserve Bank of Australia's rate cut and on sliding commodities.