* Spreadbetters see European stocks opening a touch higher
* Markets mark time before US jobs report, stocks in narrow range
* MSCI Asia-Pacific index and Nikkei little changed on the day
* Dollar nurses losses after weak US ISM factory activity data
* Oil, gold pull away from lows amid a weaker dollar
By Shinichi Saoshiro
TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets wobbled and the dollar was on the defensive on Friday as investors awaited U.S. job data later in the day which could give clues on whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as soon as this month.
Spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE, Germany's DAX and France's CAC to open a touch higher as caution prevailed.
The dollar, which was bullish much of the week, nursed losses after downbeat U.S. manufacturing data tempered recent optimism on the U.S. economy that had revived expectations for a near-term rate hike by the Fed.
A report from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) on Thursday showed U.S. factory activity contracted for the first time in six months in August, as new orders and production tumbled. The ISM index was 49.4.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was barely changed, spending the day swaying in and out of the red.
Shanghai fell 0.2 percent while South Korea's Kospi eked out a 0.3 percent gain. Australian stocks lost 0.8 percent and Japan's Nikkei was down 0.1 percent.
"Some market participants had bet the Fed may raise U.S. rates as early as this month, but because of the weak ISM data and poor U.S. auto sales, such expectations seemed to have changed," said Hikaru Sato, a senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities.
"The U.S. is moving towards tightening, and that direction is the same, but the dollar-yen moves also show that people stepped back from expectations for an imminent hike."
Asian equity markets took few cues from overnight moves on Wall Street, where stocks were flat with gains in the tech sector offsetting sluggish U.S. factory activity data and lower oil prices.
The markets will look to Friday's non-farm payrolls to see if the Fed can risk raising rates this month or later this year. Economists polled by Reuters expect the U.S. economy to have added about 180,000 jobs in August.
"While the US manufacturing ISM did undershoot expectations by quite a margin, it is worth remembering that the Fed hiked last year when the ISM manufacturing was at 48.0 and had been sub-50 for three consecutive months," wrote Sharon Zellner, a senior strategist at ANZ.
"There is therefore potential for markets to whipsaw should we see robust U.S. jobs data tonight, going into the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend."