*

German, UK stocks at highs as investors look past US

tariffs

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50% tariff on US copper imports to begin August 1, says

Trump

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Brazil's real slides to one-month low on tariff threats

*

Bitcoin holds near record high

(Updates to European morning trading)

By Rae Wee and Johann M Cherian

SINGAPORE, July 10 (Reuters) - Global stocks advanced on

Thursday, underpinned by optimism around artificial intelligence

and the prospect of upcoming interest rate cuts, while investors

kept a cautious eye on U.S. President Donald Trump's ongoing

assault on international trade.

U.S. copper futures widened their premium to the London

benchmark overnight after Trump announced plans to impose a 50%

tariff on copper imports. He said the levies would come into

effect on August 1.

Trump also threatened a punitive 50% tariff on Brazil's

exports to the U.S. on Wednesday and issued tariff notices to

seven minor trading partners.

The latest tariff moves did little to rattle markets as

European stocks gained, with Germany's DAX up

0.1% and UK's FTSE 100 rising 1% to their respective

all-time highs.

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

added 0.5%. U.S. stock futures took a breather,

with Nasdaq futures down 0.1% after the tech-heavy index

closed at a record high on Wednesday.

The market reaction to Trump's tariff developments this week

was less severe than in April, and Jeff Ng, SMBC's head of Asia

macroeconomic strategy, said investors had grown somewhat "numb"

to the ever-changing situation.

"They know that there is still room for negotiation. A lot

of these announcements, they start off with eye-catching

numbers, but they are not totally final, and they are still

subject to changes. Even if they are implemented, they could

also be reversed in the coming few months to year," he said.

Meanwhile, investors digested upbeat quarterly results from

TSMC that reflected strong demand for the world's

largest contract chipmaker's products, kept alive by surging

interest in artificial intelligence applications.

TSMC's report came a day after AI chip giant Nvidia ( NVDA )

became the world's first public company to hit a $4 trillion

market value. Other tech-related stocks in Korea and

Japan further got a boost.

Also keeping stocks supported were expectations of at least

two interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

Minutes released on Wednesday showed "most participants" at

the Fed's meeting last month anticipated rate cuts would be

appropriate later this year, with any price shock from tariffs

expected to be "temporary or modest."

"Our view remains that in the balance of risks between

employment and inflation, Fed would be more sensitive to

employment than to inflation. Hence, if our view holds, and we

get some weakness in the employment numbers over summer, Fed

will respond by cutting rates in September," said Mohit Kumar,

an economist at Jefferies.

DOLLAR EASES

The dollar was on the back foot on Thursday against the

euro, but holding its own against the yen at 146.35,

after a sharp rise earlier this week when Trump slapped Japan

with 25% tariffs.

The euro was up 0.17% to $1.1734 and sterling

gained 0.15% to $1.36110.

An exception was the Brazilian real, which languished

near a one-month low at 5.5826 per dollar owing to Trump's

tariff threat on Latin America's largest economy.

The real's volatility gauges spiked to the

highest since late April when markets were still trying to get

to grips with Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff threats.

"Without a clear path yet to de-escalation, the real is

likely to continue to trade on a softer footing in the

near-term. The initial real sell-off was exacerbated by the

unwind of popular carry trades," Lee Hardman, a senior currency

economist at MUFG said.

"The risk is that carry trades continue to be unwound on the

back of heightened trade risks and higher financial market

volatility triggering a further reversal of real gains."

In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin was pinned near a record

high and was last at $111,207, while ether was up 1.8% to

$2,790.9.

Elsewhere, crude prices were steady with Brent futures

hovering at $70.2 per barrel, while U.S. crude

was flat at $68.33 a barrel.

Spot gold rose 0.22% to $3,320.59 an ounce.