* Asia shares creep ahead, eye rally in US stock futures
* Pentagon denies reports of U.S. strikes on Syria
* Trump keeps up pressure on trade ahead of Xi speech
* Dollar steadies, major currencies hold tight ranges
* Oil edges higher, 10yr Treasury yields rise to 2.797 pct
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, April 9 (Reuters) - Asian shares crept higher on Monday as a bounce in U.S. stock futures soothed sentiment even as U.S. President Donald Trump kept up his twitter war with China just a couple of days before President Xi Jinping gives a keynote speech.
There was more confusion than reaction to reports U.S. forces had struck at sites in Syria, reports which the Pentagon quickly denied. said on Sunday there would be a "big price to pay" after medical aid groups reported dozens of people were killed by poison gas in a besieged rebel-held town. now, investors in Asia were encouraged that E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 were still up 0.66 percent, while NASDAQ futures NQc1 rose 0.88 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS responded by rising 0.7 percent. Japan's Nikkei .N225 put on 0.6 percent, while Chinese blue chips .CSI300 added 0.3 percent and Hong Kong .HKSI climbed 2 percent.
Caution had been the watchword after Trump claimed on Sunday that China would take down its trade barriers because it was "the right thing to do." late Thursday threatened to slap $100 billion more in tariffs on Chinese imports, while Beijing said it was fully prepared to respond with a "fierce counter strike". warned the drama would be a long-running one given the lengthy public discussion period on U.S. tariff proposals meant the earliest they might be imposed was somewhere around late July or early August.
"This is not going to happen tomorrow, and given the mercurial nature of the U.S. administration, the whole issue could well disappear before anything really happens," said Marshall Gittler, chief strategist at ACLS Global.
"Many market participants may be starting to think that this is just a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing in the end. But..you never know, U.S. trade policy is in the hands of someone totally unpredictable."
HOPES FOR EARNINGS
The next major hurdle will be a speech by Chinese President Xi at the Boao Forum on Tuesday.
The war of words took a toll on Wall Street on Friday. The Dow .DJI ended down 2.3 percent, while the S&P 500 .SPX lost 2.2 percent and the Nasdaq .IXIC 2.3 percent.
The looming earnings season might be strong enough to provide fundamental support for stocks, with analysts tipping the fastest quarterly profit growth in seven years. latest souring of risk sentiment and a soft report on U.S. payrolls helped sovereign debt end last week on a firm note. Yields on U.S. 10-year Treasury debt US10YT=RR nudged up to 2.797 percent on Monday, though that compared to a top of 2.8380 last week.
In currency markets, the dollar steadied on the safe haven yen at 107.00 JPY= , just short of the recent six-week peak of 107.49. The euro held at $1.2274 EUR= , after bouncing from a trough of $1.2212, while the dollar index was a fraction firmer at 90.184 .DXY .
In commodity markets, gold eased slightly to $1,332.05 an ounce XAU= , but stayed well within recent trading ranges.
Oil prices edged up with Brent crude futures for June LCOc1 rising 28 cents to $67.39 a barrel, while U.S. crude CLc1 gained 23 cents to $62.29 a barrel.
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