* Japan's Nikkei catches up on AI rally, surges to a

record

* Oil nurses steep losses on peace deal, still above

pre-war levels

* Yen stable after bouts of spikes, intervention jitters

persist

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, May 7 (Reuters) - Asian stocks soared to

record highs on Thursday while the U.S. dollar slipped and oil

nursed steep losses as traders embraced the prospect of a peace

deal in the Middle East, although the fate of the critical

Strait of Hormuz remains unresolved.

Japan's Nikkei returned from a long holiday to cross

62,000 for the first time, catching up on a blistering AI-led

rally after robust earnings that has also catapulted South

Korean and Taiwan stocks to records.

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

was up 1%, hitting another all-time high. The

index is up 7% so far this week.

Kyle Rodda, senior financial analyst at Capital.com, said

the market moves on Thursday were justified as a deal would be a

breakthrough.

"But we've seen this story before, and the rug could get

pulled out of the market pretty quickly too. Ultimately, if we

keep seeing progress in talks, Asian markets will keep

rallying."

Iran said it was reviewing a peace proposal that sources

said would formally end the war while leaving unresolved the key

U.S. demands that Iran suspend its nuclear program and reopen

the Strait of Hormuz, whose closure has sent oil prices surging.

A potential deal to end the war, which started at the end of

February, sent oil prices sliding nearly 8% on Wednesday. Brent

crude was a touch higher at $102.11 a barrel in early

Asian hours on Thursday.

Still, oil prices are around 40% higher than they were when

the conflict began, while 10-year Treasury yields

are around 40 bps higher, underscoring the challenge facing the

global economy from higher energy prices and pricing pressures.

"Even if the strait reopens in coming weeks, oil is likely

to stay elevated and slow to ease given damage to energy

infrastructure and precautionary stockpiling," said OCBC

analysts in a note.

Federal Reserve officials said the war is raising the risk

of a sustained inflation shock, with continued high oil prices

and developing concerns about problems with global supply

chains.

YEN STAYS IN SPOTLIGHT

In currency markets, the euro held on to its

overnight gains of around 0.5% and last fetched $1.1747.

Sterling was at $1.3591 after rising 0.4% on Wednesday.

The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency

against six units, was at 98.032.

The yen remains in the spotlight after bouts of

surges in the past few sessions triggered speculation that Tokyo

may be stepping in to support the battered currency.

It was last at 156.29 per dollar, little changed on the day,

having hit a 10-week high of 155 in the previous session in a

sudden jump.

OCBC analysts said the key question is whether the Ministry

of Finance will continue to defend the yen or has already

deployed sufficient firepower.

"Intervention alone is unlikely to shift the broader trend

unless backed by stronger policy support like a more assertive

BOJ hiking cycle or better alignment with external drivers such

as lower oil prices and U.S. yields," they said in a note,

maintaining their year-end target of 155.

The rocketing oil prices whacked global markets in March but

a fragile ceasefire and the prospect of a deal spurred a risk-on

rally since April that has been fuelled further by strong

earnings reports from technology companies.

Overnight, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq surged

to record-high closes on earnings. S&P 500 companies are on

track for their strongest profit growth in more than four years.

Investors were awaiting the non-farm payrolls report on

Friday, with U.S. jobs seen increasing by 62,000 in April after

rebounding 178,000 in March, according to a Reuters survey of

economists.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by

Muralikumar Anantharaman)