(Updates prices throughout)

By Tom Westbrook

SINGAPORE, Aug 28 (Reuters) - Global stocks were poised

near record highs on Wednesday, with the next move riding on

results at chipmaking market darling Nvidia ( NVDA ), while sterling

hovered near a 2-1/2-year high as traders bet that Britain will

lag the U.S. in cutting interest rates.

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

dipped 0.2%. Japan's Nikkei was flat.

Oil retraced a recent spike on Middle East tensions as gloom

on Chinese demand returned to the fore and Brent crude futures

traded just below $80 a barrel.

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) market value has ballooned thanks to its

dominance of the computing hardware behind artificial

intelligence. The stock price is up some 3000% since 2019 and

with a market capitalisation of $3.2 trillion, a move in its

shares affects the entire market.

Second-quarter revenue will likely have doubled, though even

that may disappoint expectations. Options pricing shows traders

anticipate a near 10% - or $300 billion - swing in market value,

likely the largest earnings move of any company, ever.

The results at the "so-called 'most important company in the

world,'" stand between Wall Street and fresh record highs, noted

Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda, and set the tone for the sector.

"The company's revenue and sales guidance is a barometer of

AI capex, with inferences to be drawn about the health of the

other mega-cap tech names," he said.

The S&P 500 went up about 0.2% overnight and futures

were steady in Asia, while Nasdaq 100 futures fell

0.1% and FTSE futures rose 0.2%.

Consumer firms dragged in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng

slipped 1.1%, with a weak result at water bottler Nongfu

Spring ( NNFSF ) sending shares down 12% and coming on the heels

of downbeat remarks from discount online retailer PDD Holdings.

Shares in Australian gambling company Tabcorp were

headed for their largest fall since 2008, dropping 17% to a

four-year low after the company warned compliance and other

costs meant it would miss earnings targets.

Debt and currency markets were steady in the Asia session,

though the Australian dollar briefly popped to touch

its highest since January at $0.6813 after monthly inflation

data was slightly above market forecasts.

Globally, a weakening dollar in anticipation of U.S. rate

cuts has lifted most other currencies because markets see U.S.

short-term rates, currently above 5.25%, as having furthest to

fall. The greenback steadied in the Asia session to buy 144.42

yen and was about 0.3% firmer at $1.1145 per euro.

Interest rate futures price 100 basis points of U.S. rate

cuts this year and last week Fed Chair Jerome Powell endorsed

the start of cuts saying "the time has come".

The tone contrasts with caution at the Bank of England,

which has helped sterling become the top-performing G10

currency with a 4.1% gain for the year-to-date.

It hit its highest in more than two years on Tuesday at

$1.3269 and eased to $1.3227 in Asia trade.

"UK services sector inflation...is still uncomfortably

high," Rabobank senior strategist Jane Foley said in a note.

"In our view, the BoE is likely to only cut rates once a

quarter going forward," she said, against a forecast for four

consecutive 25 bp cuts from the Fed from September to January.

Rates markets were steady with 10-year U.S. Treasury yields

at 3.83%, two-year yields at 3.87% and

the gap between the two at its narrowest in nearly three weeks.

Heavy selling in the New York evening drove bitcoin

down 4% on the dollar to $59,450. Gold held at $2,517 an

ounce.

(Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Jacqueline Wong)