* Oil prices edge up again after fresh Middle East strikes

* European stocks rise, Wall St futures edge up

* Bond markets steady after tough few days, JGB yield at

30-year high

(Updates with latest market moves)

By Marc Jones

LONDON, July 9 (Reuters) - Global stocks edged higher while

bond markets and currencies were largely steady on Thursday as

investors balanced renewed tensions in the Middle East against

continued strength in technology shares and resilient economic

data.

Oil prices had initially dipped in Europe, but were forced

back up as Iranian armed forces responded to a second night of

U.S. strikes with fresh attacks on U.S. military infrastructure

in neighbouring Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.

Brent crude futures rose to nearly $79 from around

$77 earlier in the day, bolstering what has been a 9% leap over

recent days.

Pressure was just starting to show in global borrowing costs

too. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields ticked

up towards 4.58% having started the month around 4.40%, although

Germany's Bund yields held steady at just over 3% in

Europe.

In Asia, Japan's 10-year yields had hit 2.9%,

the highest since 1996, while Australia's 10-year government

bond yields scaled a one-month peak of 4.933%.

HSBC's Chief Multi-Asset Strategist Max Kettner said the

bond markets remained highly sensitive to the Middle East

tensions given the potential implications for inflation and

global interest rates.

"In reality, the rates market is really following oil

prices," he said. "That has been clear over the last few days."

TECH VOLATILITY

European shares moved tentatively higher, helped by a

rebound in tech and AI stocks after a stumbling couple of weeks

for the high-flying sector.

Wall Street futures still pointed to modest gains when its main

markets reopen although Meta META.O fell 1.2% after Reuters

reported the company was planning to start making its own

artificial intelligence microchip from September.

Back in Europe the pan-European STOXX 600 index

remained up almost half a percent with tech stocks up

1.8% as chipmaker Siltronic surged more than 16%

following an analyst upgrade.

Global sentiment was also buoyed by a report that China

could allow domestic AI firms limited access to AI leader

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) H200 chips and reports that SK Hynix's $28

billion U.S. share listing was more than seven times

oversubscribed.

The offering from the South Korean chipmaker, which will

finance new factories and equipment to meet surging AI chip

demand, is set to be the world's second-biggest share sale after

SpaceX's record-breaking $85.7 billion IPO last month.

HSBC's Kettner said the 30-day "realised volatility" on

South Korea's KOSPI index was 75% currently. In comparison, a 7-

to 10- year U.S. Treasury exchange-traded fund traditionally has

realised volatility of around 3%.

"Imagine if you are an institutional investor. Who can

really buy in size an asset class with 75% realised volatility?"

Kettner said. HSBC closed its "overweight" on emerging market

stocks this week following the surge in key markets like

Korea's.

MUTED CURRENCY MARKETS

Wall Street futures were 0.2% to 0.6% higher ahead of the

resumption of trading there.

The day's early data showed the number of Americans filing

claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, suggesting the

labor market remained stable despite a slowdown in job growth in

June.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000

to a seasonally adjusted 215,000 for the week ended July 4, the

Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters

had forecast 218,000 claims for the latest week.

Currency markets were rather muted, with the dollar

barely budged, the yen stuck near a 40-year low and

the euro, sterling and most other European

currencies also little changed on the day.

Wednesday's June FOMC minutes, the first under new Federal

Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh, had shown some growing concerns about

inflation. Markets have increased the implied probability of a

Fed hike this year to about 87%, according to CME FedWatch.

Gold edged up 0.8% to $4,109 an ounce as oil prices

eased.

Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, said traders

were watching how the Middle East tensions develop from here.

"The possibility that the next move could be de-escalatory

is what's currently preventing oil from pushing meaningfully

higher," he said.

(Additional reporting by Stella Qiu in Sydney; editing by

Philippa Fletcher and Ros Russell)