* Carry trades send Aussie to multi-mth highs vs euro, yen & pound

* Aussie resilient to USD strength, but NZD drops to 6-mth lows

* U.S. nonfarm payrolls data next major focus

By Gyles Beckford and Cecile Lefort

WELLINGTON/SYDNEY, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The Australian dollar was holding hefty gains versus the euro, yen and pound on Friday as yield-hungry investors piled into carry trades after the European Central Bank (ECB) stunned markets with a surprisingly aggressive stimulus plan.

The Australian dollar held firm at $0.9343 AUD=D4 , from a five-week high of $0.9393 hit overnight, having once again defied broad U.S. dollar strength and a sharp decline in iron ore prices. .IO62-CNI=SI

"The Aussie has been resilient because of the search for yield," said Gregg Gibbs, a strategist at Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore.

The Aussie made large advances against other currencies to reach multi-month highs. Against the yen, it surged to a 15-month peak of 98.66 AUDJPY=R to show a gain of 5 yen in just four weeks.

The Aussie bulldozed a battered euro, which tumbled more than two cents EURAUD=R to its lowest since June 2013. The collapse came after ECB President Mario Draghi announced a range of rate cuts and a new plan to push money into the flagging euro zone economy.

The euro was last at A$1.3839 EURAUD=R with charts suggesting more losses. Key support was found A$1.3715, the 50 percent of the A$1.1686-A$1.5831 climb. The euro has fallen more than 10 percent so far this year.

The Aussie also climbed to nine-month highs against the pound, Swiss franc and its kiwi neighbour.

The Aussie strength came from renewed carry trade demand whereby investors borrow at low rates in euros and yen to buy higher-yielding Aussie assets.

Investors are now keenly waiting figures on the U.S. labour market due later in the day. Analysts expect the pace of job creation to have picked up slightly in August, with a rise of 225,000 in nonfarm payrolls. ECONUS

The New Zealand dollar NZD=D4 faced renewed pressure, dipping 0.3 percent to a six-month low of $0.8270 as a stronger U.S. dollar and investor preference for the neighbouring Aussie weighed.

The outlook going into the weekend was kiwi-negative.

"Even if the U.S. jobs data disappoints the market, we don't see the kiwi pushing much higher because the positive U.S. dollar story is quite entrenched now and is robust to hiccups," said Bank of New Zealand currency strategist Raiko Shareef.

He said a significantly stronger-than-expected jobs report would pressure kiwi support at $0.8260. Resistance is seen at $0.8350.

"There's also been a sea change in recent weeks over views of the relative central banks, so there's been some paring back of RBNZ rate hikes expectations, and some paring back of RBA rate cut expectations," Shareef said.

The negative view on the kiwi was reflected against other majors, retreating from a five week high against the euro touched after the ECB meeting, and losing more ground on sterling and the yen.

Next week sees the Reserve Bank of NZ's monetary policy statement. No rate change is expected, but the bank is seen as likely to signal it will hold rates for longer and possibly take the chance to talk down the currency further. NZ/POLL

New Zealand government bonds 0#NZTSY= traded with an offered tone, pushing yields as much as 2.5 basis points higher.

Australian government bond futures fell. The three-year bond contract YTTc1 lost 4 ticks to 97.260, pulling very close to two-month lows of 97.250 and a level of major support.

The 10-year contract YTCc1 shed 6.5 ticks to 96.515 in a bearish steepening of the curve.

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

Keywords: MARKETS AUSTRALIA/FOREX