* Yen surges as intervention speculation swirls

* Trump calls joint currency operation a sign of friendship

* Oil prices drop after Trump says Iran talks to happen on

Monday

By Ankur Banerjee

SINGAPORE, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Oil prices skidded and stocks

wobbled on Monday as hopes of peace in the Middle East grew,

while the yen jumped suddenly after the U.S. and Japan confirmed

joint intervention to prop up the frail currency.

Brent crude futures sank more than 6% to $82.41

after U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with Iran will

happen on Monday. He had earlier called off an imminent attack

on Iran to reach a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and

resolve the impasse over Tehran's nuclear capabilities.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% while Nasdaq futures

gained 0.6%. But Japan's Nikkei dipped 1% and

South Korea's KOSPI slid 3.6% after a turbulent July in

which it slumped 22%.

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

was down 1% in early trading.

The Japanese yen rose more than 1% to 155.39 per U.S.

dollar in a sudden move that put traders on alert for another

bout of intervention.

Japan and the U.S. conducted coordinated yen-buying

intervention and will not hesitate to take further action,

Japan's finance ministry said on Monday, confirming a rare

bilateral action to halt the yen's slide to fresh 40-year lows.

Mizuho Bank strategist Masayuki Nakajima said the objective

was likely not to reverse the broader trend of dollar/yen as

structural forces remain broadly yen-negative, including

persistent U.S.-Japan interest-rate differentials.

"It is difficult to argue that the secular depreciation

trend in the yen has fundamentally changed. In the near term,

however, the momentum may shift in favour of yen appreciation,

as the tone of recent U.S.-Japan communication carries a pointed

warning to speculative traders," Nakajima said.

Preceding the announcement, Trump said on Sunday the United

States was helping Japan to prop up the yen as a sign of

friendship and to help the world economy.

"They have a weakening yen, and they wanted a little bit of

help. And we're always there for Japan," Trump said in response

to a reporter's query about why the U.S. is helping to support

the yen.

Nick Twidale, chief market strategist at ATFX Global, said

comments from Trump that it is basically a 'friendship trade'

take away credibility from the U.S. participation.

"They are pushing against the fundamentals so I expect the

market to eventually correct the move once the intervention has

finished, unless we do see a change in the underlying factors,"

Twidale said.

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by

Muralikumar Anantharaman)