* U.S. jobs data, IMF/World Bank meetings in focus
* Stocks fall, dollar gains in tentative markets
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Investors pulled back from riskier assets on Friday, selling stocks and buying the dollar, as they approached a key test of U.S. economic recovery and a potentially volatile weekend of global currency talks.
Wall Street also looked set to open flat to lower pending the release of jobs data.
U.S. monthly non-farm payrolls data for September was at 1230 GMT, providing a snapshot of how the stumbling U.S. economy is impacting jobs -- and with them consumer confidence and likely spending patterns.
A weak number could also push the U.S. Federal Reserve towards further quantitative easing, essentially printing money to prime the economic pump.
Meanwhile, International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington this weekend are expected to be dominated by the potential for a "currency war" over differing exchange policies, including the potential for QE to weaken the dollar.
Japan said it will continue to intervene to curb a strong yen if necessary. China has rebuffed calls from the West to let its currency rise faster but allowed it to firm on Friday to its highest against the dollar since a revaluation in July 2005.
The result of both pending events was to put financial markets on the defensive.
MSCI's all-country world index was down 0.4 percent and its emerging market counterpart lost nearly two-thirds of a percent.
The FTSEurofirst 300 was down half a percent and Japan's Nikkei earlier closed down 1 percent.
"There is some nervousness. We have seen in the course of the last couple of days that the market is reacting substantially to any indication about the labour statistics," said Luc Van Hecka, chief economist at KBC Securities.
U.S. payrolls are forecast to be unchanged in September, with the unemployment rate seen edging up to 9.7 percent from 9.6 percent in August.
Some were expecting a worse figure.
"We think the risk is to the downside for the data if you look at recent data," said Glenn Marci, strategist at DZ Bank in Frankfurt.
MONEY TROUBLE
The dollar firmed slightly, up 0.1 percent, against a basket of major currencies and the euro dropped 0.2 percent to $1.3903.
Currency markets have been roiled recently by the United States' apparent willingness to let the dollar weaken sharply, China's insistence on keeping its yuan competitive and other countries, such as Japan and Brazil, attempting to slow money flows that have strengthened their currencies. Expectations for any meaningful agreement in Washington are low and Japan, for one, showed no sign of backing down from its attempts to cool the yen.
"Japan will take firm measures, including intervention, when needed," Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda told reporters when asked about the yen's rise to another 15-year high on Thursday. "This is Japan's basic stance."
Concerns that a stronger euro may weigh on the pace of Europe's economic recovery, meanwhile, were fuelled by German exports falling in August for the second consecutive month and narrowing the trade balance.
German government bond prices firmed.
Bunds fell on Thursday after European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet signalled no change to the bank's exit strategy from providing unlimited liquidity.
(Editing by Toby Chopra)