UPDATE 1-Wal-Mart's Asda to create 9,000 jobs, cut prices

(Adds CEO comment, details)

LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Asda, Britain's second-biggest supermarket group which is owned by U.S. retailer Wal-Mart (WMT.N), said on Wednesday it planned to create 9,000 jobs and cut prices after taking market share from rivals in 2007.

"My objective this year is to lower prices for customers and we'll be the lowest price retailer," Asda Chief Executive Andy Bond told reporters.

"All of you are writing up stories about Cadbury, Nestle and everybody is going to raise prices ... but we have got to focus on keeping our costs down before we consider increasing retail prices."

Bond said, however, that did not mean Asda using its dominant power over suppliers to cut retail prices.

"We are not going to do anything unilaterally. This is not us squeezing our suppliers but we'll be very focused on what we can do to keep costs down and what they can do to keep costs down."

Asda said had won 2 million new customers since 2006, as its price policy attracted cost-conscious shoppers away from its rivals.

It had total sales growth of between 8 and 10 percent last year, which was 1 percentage point ahead of its target.

Bond said Asda remained very comfortable about its growth in 2008, although he noted that consumer confidence was weakening and said there will be more inflationary pressure.

The supermarket group plans to create more than 9,000 jobs in Britain this year by opening up to 12 new stores and expanding businesses of Home Shopping and Asda Direct.

Asda, which begins with the opening of an Andover store in Hampshire in March and later in Kent as well as Dalgety Bay in Scotland, will spend around 400 million pounds ($779.4 million) this year to add over 800,000 square feet of space.

Bond declined to comment whether Asda is interested in buying convenience store chain Somerfield, which is for sale and could fetch as much as 2.5 billion pounds.

"Anything's worth buying at the right price but we haven't said what we do and we won't (regarding Somerfield)... It's a very multi-format retailer with lots of mid-sized stores and small number of large stores," Bond said.

There had been at least three expressions of interests for the 955-store chain from supermarkets groups J Sainsbury (SBRY.L), Asda and Morrison (MRW.L), a source close to the situation told Reuters in January. (Reporting by Miyoung Kim, Editing by Mark Potter, Paul Bolding)