* Aussie, kiwi in tight ranges, eyes on China * Speculation Beijing may tighten policy mounts * Aussie/kiwi cross pauses after Thursday's rally (Updates prices) By Cecile Lefort and Adrian Bathgate SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The Australian and New Zealand dollars struggled to make much headway against the greenback on Friday as investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of key Chinese inflation data and possible policy action by Beijing. A Chinese newspaper reported that consumer inflation in China, Australia's largest export market, may have hit 5.1 percent in November, a 28-year high. The official data will be released on Saturday. [ID:nTOE6B900S] Earlier in the session, China posted stronger-than-expected imports and exports numbers that could clear the way for the central bank to raise interest rates as soon as this weekend. Both the Aussie and kiwi dollars have been paralysed as markets watch and wait to see whether China will tighten policy settings further said, Westpac senior markets strategist Imre Speizer. The Aussie dollar last traded at $0.9851, little changed from late New York levels, having traded in an extremely thin range between $0.9828 and $0.9859. Immediate resistance is seen at $0.9880, the 61.8 percent retracement of the recent $0.9966 to $0.9752 decline. "Not many people are going home with positions," a dealer said. Analysts said further monetary policy tightening could briefly unsettle the antipodean currencies, but added there was a growing sense in markets that Chinese economic growth will remain strong. "The overall impression will be that China's growth is on track and that will be interpreted positively for commodity currencies such as the Aussie and the New Zealand dollars," said Roland Randall, strategist at TD Securities. "The bigger issues at the moment for the Aussie is what's happening in the U.S. and Europe." The kiwi mirrored the Aussie in keeping a narrow range during the local session, ranging between $0.7478 and $0.7500. It was last at $0.7497. Even news that Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter which generates about a quarter of the country's exports, lifted its forecast milk payout by 4.5 percent to NZ$6.90 per kg of milk solid and held its dividend forecast from other activities, failed the give the kiwi much of a boost. See [ID:nWLF004937] The Aussie's advance against the kiwi also paused with the cross rate last at NZ$1.3134, down from a six-week high of NZ$1.3214 set on Thursday, when surprisingly strong Australian jobs data stood in sharp contrast to dovish comments from RBNZ. "While the RBNZ forecasts clearly sounded dovish and looked dovish, they only moved themselves to where the market was already at anyway," said Sue Trinh, strategist at RBC. "So I think there is a limit to how bearish you can get on the kiwi on the back of that alone. It could very well be that you've got to respect that NZ$1.3200 area for now." (Editing by Ian Chua)

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