* Japan's Nikkei rallies 2.3%, South Korea jumps 3.8%

* Wall St futures steady, European stock futures up 0.9%

* Bonds take a beating, 10-year JGB yield hits 30-year high

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY, July 9 (Reuters) - Asian shares climbed on Thursday

as semiconductors got a respite from heavy selling, though gains

were capped by a surge in oil prices as a resumption of

hostilities in the Gulf reignited inflation fears and hammered

bonds.

Oil prices rose for a third straight session after President

Donald Trump said the interim agreement with Iran to end the war

was "over". U.S. military also launched fresh strikes on Iran

for a second day to open the Strait of Hormuz, although Trump

later said he did not expect a return to a full-fledged war,

helping soothe concerns.

Brent crude futures rose 0.8% to $78.65 a barrel and

were up 9% this week to cross above $80 a barrel for the first

time since June 22. That knocked global bond markets and boosted

bets that the Federal Reserve will have to raise interest rates

this year to tame inflation, with Fed funds futures now implying

38 basis points of policy tightening this year, back to where

they were a week ago.

Wall Street initially fell on Trump's comments but climbed off

session lows, with the Nasdaq eking out a small gain of 0.2%.

Chip giant Nvidia ( NVDA ) rallied 3.6% after media reports that

China plans to allow its top AI firms to buy a limited number of

the company's H200 chips.

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

rose 0.8%, while Japan's Nikkei climbed

2.3% to break a three-day losing streak.

South Korea's KOSPI jumped 3.8%, driven by a 3.6%

rise in Samsung and a 7.5% surge in SK Hynix

as investors bought into the recent sell-off in

chipmakers.

Wall Street futures were flat in Asia, while Europe's

pan-region stock futures rallied 0.9%.

"At this stage, the market still appears skewed towards the view

that the (Iran) conflict ultimately de-escalates, and

negotiations resume around the Memorandum of Understanding,"

said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

"Nevertheless, traders understand the need to remain

open-minded. The situation remains highly fluid, and conviction

around timing is exceptionally difficult."

Minutes released by the Fed showed concern about mounting

inflation among policymakers as a few participants said there

was already a case to raise borrowing costs, before ultimately

agreeing with their colleagues to hold rates steady last month.

The global bond rout deepened in Asia. The yield on 10-year

Japanese government bonds rose 1.5 basis points

(bps) to 2.880%, the highest since September 1996, while

Australia's 10-year government bond yields increased

4 bps to 4.924%, the highest since early June.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields

climbed another 2 basis points to 4.5852% on Thursday after

rising 4 bps overnight. They were up 10 bps so far this week.

The reaction in the currency markets was rather muted, with

the dollar failing to hold on to its yield support and last down

0.2% to 162.38 yen. That was not far from 40-year

peaks of 162.84 as speculators remain wary of Japanese

intervention.

The euro edged up 0.1% to $1.1428, while sterling

also rose 0.1% to $1.3401, just below a three-week peak of

$1.341.

Gold was flat at $4,079 an ounce.

(Reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)