(Recasts intro, new quote, refreshes markets through Asia

afternoon)

* Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet, Amazon ( AMZN ) and Meta earnings due

* UAE exit from OPEC surprises oil market

* Trump unhappy with latest proposal from Tehran

By Gregor Stuart Hunter

SINGAPORE, April 29 (Reuters) - Markets found their

footing in Asian trading on Wednesday as worries about the Iran

conflict and health of the AI sector eased, optimism over

corporate earnings grew, and attention turned to the Federal

Reserve's decision due later.

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

reversed earlier losses to rise 0.2%, as gains

for stocks trading in Hong Kong steadied the index. Japanese

markets were closed for a holiday. S&P 500 e-mini futures

edged up 0.2%, while Brent crude rose 0.2% to $111.51

per barrel as efforts to end the Iran conflict hit an impasse.

"For us, earnings are the most important part of the story

right now," said Kate Moore, chief investment officer at Citi

Wealth. "Q1 earnings are tracking year-over-year growth and

climbing," she said. "Analysts typically spend earnings season

revising numbers down. This season, the opposite appears to be

happening."

Corporate America has shown resilience in the face of the Iran

conflict: with slightly more than one-third of S&P 500 sectors

having already reported profits, 81% of companies have beaten

estimates.

Earnings from U.S. tech giants Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet

, Amazon ( AMZN ) and Meta Platforms ( META ), due

later on Wednesday, will further test the AI-driven rally.

Tech shares took a hit on Tuesday after The Wall Street

Journal reported that AI heavyweight OpenAI had missed internal

targets for weekly users and revenue, raising concerns over the

ChatGPT parent's ability to support its massive spending on data

centres. The report weighed on shares of Oracle and CoreWeave on

Wall Street on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 sliding 0.5% and

the Nasdaq Composite falling 0.9% as investors also

assessed the impasse in Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump is unhappy with the latest proposal

from Tehran as he wants nuclear issues dealt with from the

outset, a U.S. official said. The Journal also reported on

Tuesday, citing U.S. officials, that Trump had instructed aides

to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran.

Market attention will turn later on Wednesday to the outcome

of the Federal Reserve's April meeting, which will be Jerome

Powell's last as Fed chair.

Traders believe a hold is a certainty. Fed funds futures are

pricing an implied 100% probability the U.S. central bank will

maintain rates, with no policy changes expected until late in

2027, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

"Given the challenging war-impacted inflation environment,

it won't cost much for the Fed to adopt a hawkish tilt; while

remaining in a wait-and-see mode," analysts from ING wrote in a

research report. "There will also be questions on the incoming

Kevin Warsh and Powell's intention to stay or go."

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond was up 0.8 basis

point at 4.344%, while the U.S. dollar index, which

measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six

currencies, edged up 0.1% to 98.71, rising for a second

consecutive day.

Markets also digested the surprise exit of the United Arab

Emirates from OPEC, though the rest of the oil producer alliance

is expected to stick together.

"On any other given day, this news may have seen the Brent

price move down $5 to $6 off the bat, given the UAE accounts for

around 10% of OPEC output," said Chris Weston, head of research

at Pepperstone Group Ltd in Melbourne.

"However, with the UAE's production facilities currently

close to capacity, it is perhaps no surprise that Brent

front-month futures quickly erased the initial drop."

Gold was down 0.2% at $4,583.40. In cryptocurrency

markets, bitcoin gained 1.1% at $77,296.62 while ether

rallied1.5% at $2,331.23.