LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Russia's rouble strengthened,

Moscow stocks jumped and Ukrainian bonds rallied on Thursday

after the prospect of a meeting between Russian President

Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump fuelled hopes of

easing geopolitical tensions.

Russia's main stock market index MOEX gained more than 5% to

touch a near three-month peak of 2,915 points, in its strongest

day in over two weeks. Gas producer Gazprom enjoyed a

lift of 3.4% and technology firm Yandex jumped 3.2%.

The SPB Exchange, which specialised in trading foreign

shares before it was hit by Western sanctions, rose 7.5%.

The gains come after an announcement by Kremlin aide Yuri

Ushakov that Putin and Trump will meet in coming days - which

would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries

since 2021.

"Investors hope that the meeting will be a step towards

normalizing the geopolitical situation," Alfa Bank analysts said

in a note to clients. "The stocks of companies that benefit from

the easing of tensions are growing more strongly, including

Gazprom, Aeroflot and Sovcomflot."

Stocks with exposure to both countries also gained.

Ukrainian-focused miner Ferrexpo ( FEEXF ) rallied around 20%,

while Austrian lender Raiffeisen International soared

more than 12%, also boosted by a Russian court lifting a freeze

on its local unit.

The enthusiasm spread to FX markets, with the rouble

strengthening to a two-week high against the dollar and China's

yuan. The Russian currency advanced 0.7% to hit 79.45 against

the dollar by 1010 GMT, according to data compiled by LSEG based

on over-the-counter quotes.

The rouble strengthened by 0.6% against the yuan, Russia's

most-traded foreign currency, on the Moscow Stock Exchange.

The announcement of the prospective meeting between the two

leaders came a day after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff held talks in

Moscow with Putin in a push to secure a breakthrough to end the

Ukraine war.

International bonds issued by Ukraine also rallied sharply,

with 2035 and 2036 maturities gaining more than 4 cents on the

dollar to trade between 52.5-56.7 cents, both at their highest

level since mid-May, Tradeweb data showed.

The GDP-linked warrant gained 1.35 cents to stand at 76.4

cents.