* Trump set to address nation on Iran at 9 p.m. Wednesday

(0100 GMT Thursday)

* S&P 500 futures up 0.3% on de-escalation hopes

* Kospi surges as much as 5.5%, Nikkei gains up to 3.9%

* MSCI Asia ex-Japan index on track to snap four-day

losing streak

* Dollar and Brent crude subdued after earlier declines,

Treasury bonds recover

By Gregor Stuart Hunter

SINGAPORE, April 1 (Reuters) - Stocks and bonds rallied

and the dollar wallowed at the start of the Asian trading

session on Wednesday on hopes of a de-escalation in the Iran

conflict, while significantly better-than-expected economic data

for March propelled a rebound in Korean and Japanese shares.

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

was up 2.7%, snapping a four-day losing streak

as South Korea's Kospi surged as much as 5.5%. The

Nikkei 225 also jumped 3.9% at one point, after U.S.

President Donald Trump said the United States could end its

military attacks on Iran within two to three weeks and that

Tehran did not have to make a deal as a prerequisite for the

conflict winding down.

"They're still quite far apart in terms of what a truce

means, or what peace means, but the market is embracing the fact

that they are talking," said Rodrigo Catril, currency strategist

at National Australia Bank in Sydney.

"That's a positive sign, at least in terms of signalling or

willingness to end the conflict," he said, speaking on a

podcast. "Whether a compromise can be reached remains to be

seen," he added. "While this is all happening, attacks are

continuing from both sides."

Trump will provide an update on Iran in an address to the nation

at 9 p.m. on Wednesday (0100 GMT on Thursday), White House

spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on X. S&P 500 e-mini futures

were up 0.3% and Nasdaq futures gained 0.5%

after the post.

Stocks on Wall Street soared on Tuesday as traders bet on the

potential off-ramp to the war, sending the S&P 500 2.9%

higher, though oil markets were more subdued as trading resumed

in Asia. Brent crude futures moved 1.1% higher to

$105.16 a barrel to retrace some of the previous day's decline.

South Korean stocks were on track for their sharpest jump in two

weeks, with Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) soaring 8% and SK

Hynix up 7.8%, as exports soared 48.3% year-on-year

in March, smashing market expectations, while a separate

purchasing managers' index (PMI) gauge showed the country's

factory activity expanded at the strongest pace in more than

four years in March, led by semiconductor demand and new product

launches.

In Japan, business sentiment among large manufacturers improved

in the three months to March, according to a closely watched

survey released on Wednesday, a sign that increasing economic

uncertainty from the Middle East conflict has yet to hit

morale.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback's

strength against a basket of six currencies, nudged up 0.1% to

99.8070 after logging its biggest one-day drop since March 19 on

Tuesday, as traders reassessed the odds that the Federal Reserve

may take policy action earlier than thought, rather than sitting

on its hands all year.

Fed funds futures are pricing an implied 32% probability

that a 25-basis-point cut to interest rates could come at the

U.S. central bank's two-day meeting ending on July 29, compared

to a 7.5% chance a day earlier, according to the CME Group's

FedWatch tool.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond was down 1.2

basis points at 4.297%.

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was down 0.3% at

$67,988.87, while ether slipped 0.2% to $2,100.94.

(Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)