(Updates to late afternoon)

* Brent tumbles after reaching a four-year high

* ECB and BOE hold rates steady in Europe

* Japan intervenes to counter currency weakness, sources

say

By Caroline Valetkevitch and Marc Jones

NEW YORK/LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - Global bond yields

fell and stocks rose on Thursday as oil prices retreated from

four-year highs, while the yen jumped after sources said Japan

intervened to prop up the currency.

Global benchmark Brent crude futures rose as high as

$126.41 a barrel but did not hold those gains, settling down

$4.02, or 3.4%, at $114.01. U.S. crude fell $1.81 to

settle at $105.07.

The oil markets have been in a period of heightened

volatility since joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran kicked

off a conflict in the Middle East in late February. The war has

severely limited transit through the Strait of Hormuz, used for

shipping one-fifth of the world's oil and gas.

Iransaidit would respond with "long and painful strikes" on

U.S. positions if Washington renewed attacks, and also

reasserted its control over the strait. Oil prices have been on

a steady upward climb over the last several days as an agreement

to reopen the waterway has not materialized.

The day's declines buoyed risk assets, however, and stocks were

stronger on the back of earnings from AI-focused tech giants

like Alphabet, which rose 9% following a record

quarter for its cloud unit.

After a poor March following the outbreak of war, April has

been a strong month for equities. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq

were closing out their biggest monthly gains since 2020 as

investors look past the steady rundown of oil inventories that

has raised prices.

"Yields are moving lower because the price of oil is coming

down. That's helping stocks, as well as some of the earnings

reports that were good," said Peter Cardillo, chief market

economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.

Earnings from iPhone maker Apple ( AAPL ) are due after the

closing bell.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 853.89 points,

or 1.75%, to 49,715.70, the S&P 500 rose 78.07 points, or

1.09%, to 7,214.02 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 238.22

points, or 0.97%, to 24,911.46.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose

10.62 points, or 0.99%, to 1,078.18.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 1.38%.

ECB, BOE KEEP RATES STEADY

The ECB and the Bank of England kept rates steady. On Wednesday,

there was a hawkish shift in tone from the Federal Reserve as it

left rates on hold. Three of the U.S. central bank's board

members voted to drop the easing bias in its policy statement in

the most divided decision since 1992.

Japan intervened to prop up the yen, its first official

intervention in nearly two years, two sources familiar with the

matter told Reuters, sending the currency up sharply against the

dollar.

The sources, one government and another a market source,

spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to

speak to the media.

The dollar fell by as much as 3% against the yen to 155.5 yen,

the largest single-day drop since late December 2024. It was

last down 2.4% at 156.51 yen. Against the Japanese yen,

the dollar weakened 2.5% to 156.33.

Two-year UK gilt yields dipped below 4.5%, while

two-year German yields - which are sensitive to

near-term ECB rate changes - snapped an eight-day rise.

On Wednesday, outgoing Chair Jerome Powell confirmed he would

stay on as a governor for now to defend the institution's

independence as his successor Kevin Warsh, picked by low-rate

advocate U.S. President Donald Trump, moves toward confirmation.