* Spreadbetters forecast higher open for European shares

* Nikkei up on weaker yen, Shanghai stocks hit by weak trade data

* Crude rallies as Canadian wildfires raise supply woes

* Firmer dollar weighs on other commodities like copper, gold

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO, May 9 (Reuters) - Asian stocks were mostly lower on Monday after a disappointing U.S. jobs report and worse-than-expected trade numbers out of China raised questions about the underlying strength of the world's biggest economies.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices soared on supply woes stemming from devastating wildfires in Canada, and the dollar edged up against its peers.

Spreadbetters expected European shares to shrug off the weak Chinese data, picking a higher open for Britain's FTSE, Germany's DAX and France's CAC following Friday's rise on Wall Street.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan stood effectively flat. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6 percent and Shanghai stocks retreated more than 2 percent after data released over the weekend showed Chinese exports and imports fell more than expected in April.

Elsewhere, Malaysian, Indonesian and Thai share markets also lost ground.

Japan's Nikkei bucked the trend and rose 0.6 percent as the yen's recent surge appeared to halt for now.

"The dollar has rebounded against Asian currencies in May, and Asian stock markets are slipping in correlation with their respective currencies," said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.

The South Korean won, Indonesian rupiah and Malaysian ringgit have fallen to six-week troughs against the dollar over the past few days.

U.S. shares posted modest gains on Friday as the weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report fanned expectations that the Federal Reserve would have to hike interest rates at a very slow pace. The Dow gained 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 edged up 0.3 percent on Friday.

U.S. non-farm payrolls increased by 160,000 in April, the smallest gain since September, and below the 200,000 economists had expected. It prompted some financial institutions to lower their expectations of an interest rate hike for this year to just one from two before the report.

The dollar was up 0.2 percent at 107.29 yen. The U.S. currency initially fell in reaction to the lacklustre jobs report on Friday but bounced after New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley said two rate hikes this year were still a "reasonable expectation".

The dollar remained within reach of an 18-month low of 105.55 yen plumbed last week.

"Higher than expected annual wage growth keeps alive Fed rate hike hopes, but the growing risk is a delayed Fed rate hike," said Richard Grace, chief currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank.