* KOSPI clears 7,000 mark as Samsung joins the $1

trillion club

* MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index sets fresh all-time

high

* Brent crude slides below $100 per barrel

By Gregor Stuart Hunter

SINGAPORE, May 6 (Reuters) - Stocks leapt, oil prices

sank and the dollar dropped in the Asian morning on Wednesday

after U.S. President Donald Trump touted "great progress"

towards a "final agreement" with Tehran, while momentum in

AI-driven trades accelerated.

Trump said he would briefly pause an operation escorting

ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about a fifth

of global oil and has been blockaded by Iran since late

February, triggering a global energy crisis.

The news sent Brent crude tumbling 1.2% to $108.51

per barrel, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.3%.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan

jumped 2.3% to a fresh record, led by a 5.1%

surge in South Korea's Kospi, clearing the 7,000 mark

for the first time.

"Markets embraced a sense of calm and stability overnight,

with the risk of escalation in the Middle East conflict viewed

as having diminished after U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth

ensured the ceasefire was still in place, despite the U.S. and

Iran trading blows yesterday," analysts from Westpac wrote in a

research note.

"This put some wind in the sails for risk sentiment,

supporting a rebound in equities across the U.S. and Europe at

the same time as crude oil prices partially unwound yesterday's

climb."

Stocks on Wall Street hit fresh records on Tuesday as the

S&P 500 rose 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite gained

1%.

"Investors bought and continue to add to positioning in the

2026 winners," said Chris Weston, head of research at

Pepperstone Group Ltd in Melbourne. "There has been some buying

in S&P 500 materials stocks, but it's tech that continues to

attract the bulk of flows, notably in Apple and the memory

plays."

As the Seoul market reopened after a holiday, Samsung

Electronics ( SSNLF ) jumped 12%, topping a $1 trillion market

value, overtaking Berkshire Hathaway ( BRK/A ) and closing in on

Walmart ( WMT ).

"Due to the capex spend we are seeing from hyperscalers in

the U.S., the earnings growth trajectory for sectors such as

semiconductors, tech hardware, industrials and materials in Asia

exceeds anything I have seen in a long-time," said Rushil

Khanna, head of equity investments for Asia at Ostrum, an

affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers.

"This capex is leading to material value creation in Asia as

the provider of the picks and shovels to the AI ecosystem," he

said.

Shares in Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) jumped 16.5% in

extended trading as the company forecast second-quarter revenue

above Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, helped by keen demand

for its dead-centre chips as cloud-computing companies

accelerate spending on AI infrastructure.

In the foreign exchange markets, the U.S. dollar index

, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket

of six currencies, snapped a three-day winning streak, nudging

down 0.1% to 98.236.

The euro stood at $1.1724 and sterling was at $1.3577

, both up around 0.3% so far on the day.

The Australian dollar fetched $0.7227, rising about

0.6% to the highest since June 2022, buoyed by improved risk

appetite and underpinned by a third straight interest-rate hike

a day earlier.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond was flat at

4.424%.

Gold was 1.2% higher at $4,609.59. In

cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was down 0.9% at $80,881.12,

while ether was off 1% at $2,358.09.