* China indexes trims early declines but still in solid loss
* Investors cautious ahead of Greece referendum on Sunday
* Dlr on the backfoot after disappointing U.S. jobs data
By Saikat Chatterjee
HONG KONG, July 3 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell as Chinese stocks extended their plunge and growing caution ahead of Greece's referendum prompted investors to cut risky bets, while disappointing U.S. employment data weighed on the dollar.
Stocks in Shanghai trimmed earlier declines but were still down about 3 percent in afternoon trade, taking total losses to nearly 30 percent since a peak on June 12.
The rout in China's stock markets has wiped out trillions of dollars of market capitalization in Shanghai and Shenzhen's stock markets.
Financial spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE 100 to open down 0.1 percent, Germany's DAX up 0.2 percent, and France's CAC 40 or 0.3 percent higher.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock index ended broadly flat while Korea's Kospi slipped 0.1 percent.
"Some of the stocks which have seen bubbly valuations in China have been the hardest hit in this selloff, and risk sentiment is broadly under pressure ahead of the weekend referendum," said Nicholas Yeo, head of equities (China/Hong Kong) at Aberdeen Asset Management with assets under management of US$490.8 billion globally.
China's tech-heavy ChiNext index which had more than doubled to be the world's hottest stock market, is down nearly 40 percent from this year's highs.
With U.S. markets closed on Friday in observance of Independence Day, market watchers will have plenty of time to mull the weak overnight employment data and its implications for monetary policymaking.
Employers hired 223,000 workers last month, fewer than the 230,000 increase forecast by economists polled by Reuters. The government also downgraded its reading on April and May job growth.
Investors had been hoping that solid improvement in the labour market would reinforce expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as early as September.
"It is not that market expectations have radically changed. But markets are pushing back their expectations a little bit. Some people who expected a September hike may now see a rate rise in December," said Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.
U.S. interest rate futures price gained a few ticks following the data, with a hike in December now seen as less certain than before, despite recent comments from Fed officials that interest rates will likely be raised later this year.