* Dollar index firmer, but below last week's 1-month high
* Eyes on U.S.-China trade spat, geopolitical risks
* U.S. job growth disappoints, but wage growth up (Updates prices, adds comments)
By Masayuki Kitano
SINGAPORE, April 9 (Reuters) - The dollar steadied on Monday, having retreated late last week due to concerns over U.S.-China trade tensions and following data that showed the U.S. economy created the fewest jobs in six months in March.
The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies inched up 0.1 percent to 90.189 after a drop of 0.4 percent on Friday.
The dollar index had set a one-month high of 90.597 ahead of the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report data on Friday but later lost some steam, weighed down by concerns about the U.S.-China trade dispute and the disappointing U.S. jobs data.
China warned on Friday it was fully prepared to respond with a "fierce counter strike" of fresh trade measures if the United States follows through on President Donald Trump's threat to slap tariffs on an additional $100 billion of Chinese goods.
Increasingly combative statements from Washington and Beijing have stirred fears of a full-blown trade war that could hurt global economic growth, though investors are holding out hope that negotiations will result in a far less damaging compromise.
Risk aversion appears less intense than it did a few weeks ago, partly due to hopes for negotiations between the United States and China toward a pragmatic solution, said Shinichiro Kadota, senior strategist for Barclays in Tokyo.
"We're no longer in a phase where the dollar keeps falling persistently against the yen," Kadota said.
"But at the same time, the (dollar's) upside will likely be heavy, given the concerns over a trade war, as well as range-bound moves in U.S. yields and the end of one-way rises in U.S. equities," Kadota added.
Against the yen, the dollar rose 0.1 percent to 107.00 yen , after shedding 0.4 percent on Friday to pull away from a five-week high of 107.49 yen set on Thursday.
That rise to Thursday's peak marked a gain of 2.8 percent for the dollar against the yen, compared with a 16-month low of 104.56 yen set on March 26.
Markets showed limited reaction after Syrian state TV said there were casualties in what it reported was a suspected U.S. missile attack on a major air base in central Syria. The United States, however, denied it had launched any air strikes against the country.
Although geopolitical risks are a concern, they are being offset by solid global economic growth, said Satoshi Okagawa, senior global markets analyst for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in Singapore.