* Yen moves in focus after Thursday's intervention

* Wall Street futures edge higher

* Big tech earnings boost sentiment

* Oil firms on Iran threats, but off 4-year peaks

(Updates top with Yen move, adds strategist quote)

By Wayne Cole and Lucy Raitano

LONDON/SYDNEY, May 1 (Reuters) - Global shares steadied

on Friday, with attention firmly on currency markets after the

yen suddenly jumped against the dollar in early European

trading, a day after Tokyo authorities were widely believed to

have intervened to prop up the Japanese currency.

The greenback tumbled as much as 1% against the yen in a

matter of minutes on Friday before moderating; it was last down

0.1% on the day at 156.45.

"The move is clearly - thus far anyway - a lot more modest

than the moves that we saw in dollar-yen yesterday," said Mike

Brown, senior research analyst at Pepperstone.

Japanese authorities stepped into the markets to haul the

currency back from near two-year lows on Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.S. futures edged higher, while most major

European markets were closed for holidays. Market watchers are

digesting this week's upbeat earnings at major tech firms which

drove Wall Street to fresh record highs on Thursday.

Apple ( AAPL ) rose in pre-market trading on Friday after

reporting Q3 sales growth above estimates, hot on the heels of

some positive big tech earnings earlier this week.

Global shares clocked their biggest monthly rise since 2020

in April, buoyed by earnings optimism even as oil flows remain

disrupted through the vital Strait of Hormuz.

Iran on Thursday said it would respond with "long and

painful strikes" on U.S. positions if Washington renewed attacks

and restated its claim to the strait.

Brent crude firmed 0.7% to $111.20 a barrel.

JAPAN DRAWS A LINE FOR YEN

Most of the day's focus will likely be on currency markets

as the Japanese yen was poised for its strongest weekly rally

since early February, while investors remained on high alert for

further action from Japan's Ministry of Finance.

"The cost is likely to be in the tens of billions of dollars

based on history," said Tim Baker, a macro strategist at

Deutsche Bank, referring to the size of Thursday's intervention.

"We're not convinced USD/JPY will keep falling or even stay

here for long," he argued. "The cross may well be high relative

to rates, but it's actually low relative to a simple model that

includes rates, equities and oil."

Moves in major currency pairs were muted. The euro was last

flat at $1.1736 and away from a three-week trough of

$1.1655. The pound was unchanged at a 10-week high at $1.36035

.

It has been a central-bank-heavy week after the Bank of

England, European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve all kept

rates on hold even as spiking energy prices stoked inflation

fears.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said board

members were debating whether to lift rates and noted that data

over the next six weeks would decide the issue.

"The messages conveyed during the press conference leave us

with a distinct perception that the consensus among governors is

that they will hike policy rates at the next meeting on June

11," analysts at Citi said in a note.

"We find no reason to alter our expectation of back-to-back

rate hikes in June and July."

That followed a hawkish shift from the Federal Reserve on

Wednesday that saw markets give up on any hope for a rate cut

there this year.

The pivot left U.S. 10-year Treasury yields up 8 basis

points on the week at 4.390%, but off a top of

4.436%.