FOREX-Euro hit on crosses, French bond sale in focus

* Euro hits record low vs AUD, 11-yr low vs JPY

* France to tap bond market for up to 8.0 bln euros

* U.S. ADP data also eyed, ahead of Friday's payrolls

By Ian Chua

SYDNEY, Jan 5 (Reuters) - The euro wallowed at multi-year lows against the yen and Australian dollar in Asia on Thursday as markets refocused on the euro zone debt crisis with France next in line to raise funds in the bond market.

The single currency stood at 99.28 yen and A$1.2488, having slumped to an 11-year low of 98.71 and an all-time trough of A$1.2469 overnight. It also plumbed a one-year low against the Canadian dollar at C$1.3072.

Against the greenback, the euro was at $1.2938, not far off a one-week low of $1.2896. A break below the Dec. 29 trough around $1.2856 will take it back to levels not seen since September 2010.

"While we expect EUR to remain vulnerable to further weakness particularly on the crosses, we expect markets to trade sideways heading into Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls number," said analysts at BNP Paribas.

Ahead of the influential U.S. jobs report, ADP will release its December report on how the private sector fared.

Traders said markets will also be keeping an eye on the outcome of a bond sale by France, which faces the possibility of losing its top notch triple-A credit ratings in coming weeks.

Paris plans to raise up to 8 billion euros in long-term debt, a day after a subdued German bond auction. Berlin attracted only slightly better demand than at a disastrous sale last year.

Renewed pressure on the euro helped the dollar index climb 0.6 percent to 80.109, recovering almost all of the losses seen earlier in the week during a New Year risk rally.

Despite that, the greenback only made modest gains on the yen and the Australian dollar. It edged up to 76.74 yen from a low around 76.58, while the Aussie was at $1.0360, only a smidgen lower from an eight-week peak of $1.0387 set on Tuesday.

Traders said investors returning from the Christmas and year-end break will find that nothing much has changed fundamentally.

"Europe still lacks a credible mechanism to rekindle growth, and without growth the crisis can only intensify," said Russell Jones, analyst at Westpac Bank.

This will likely keep the euro under pressure, although it remains vulnerable to bouts of short covering given the record high bearish bets among speculative players, traders said.