* Japan's Nikkei falls 1% but South Korea hits another

record

* Nasdaq futures up 1% on still positive results from

tech gaints

* Brent hovers near $120 a barrel as Strait of Hormuz

remains closed

* Fed holds rates but saw rising dissent over lower

interest rates

* Dollar hovers above 160 yen, global bond yields march

higher

By Stella Qiu

SYDNEY, April 30 (Reuters) - AI-related shares fared

well in Asia on Thursday after a raft of generally positive

earnings reports, while surging oil prices left bonds battered

as central banks turned more hawkish on inflation and interest

rates.

Investors feared the European Central Bank and Bank of

England would likely warn of higher rates later in the day,

after three Federal Reserve members voted to drop its easing

bias in the most divided decision since 1992.

Outgoing Chair Jerome Powell also confirmed he would stay on

as a governor for now to defend the institution's independence

as his successor Kevin Warsh, hand-picked by President Donald

Trump, who wants lower interest rates, moves toward

confirmation.

Markets were quick to price out any rate cuts from the Fed

this year, and there is a roughly even chance of a hike by next

spring. U.S. Treasury yields rose to a one-month high and the

dollar gained broadly, hitting over 160 yen.

The latest spike in oil prices was a cause for concern, as

Brent crude futures jumped 6% overnight to a four-year

high of $122.53 a barrel on worries that the Strait of Hormuz

might not open anytime soon.

"Macroeconomic risks are significant at this juncture, but

stock market bulls hope a rosy path for artificial intelligence

can continue to offset cyclical weakness," said Jose Torres,

senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

"If earnings, capital expenditures and outlooks are buoyant,

investors could remain sanguine even as the threat of a slowdown

in overall activity, loftier borrowing costs and widening credit

spreads raise eyebrows."

In Asia, Nasdaq futures rallied 1% as earnings from

Google parent Alphabet topped forecasts, sending its

shares up 7% in extended trading. Results from Microsoft ( MSFT )

and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) were also solid, raising hopes

for Apple ( AAPL ) later in the day.

Meta Platforms ( META ) disappointed as it raised its annual

capital spending forecast to plough billions more into

artificial intelligence infrastructure, sending its shares down

7%.

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

was flat on Thursday, but was still set for a

whopping 16% gain this month. Japan's Nikkei fell 1% but

was up a similar 16% in April.

South Korea's KOSPI hit another all-time high as

Samsung Electronics ( SSNLF ) said its operating profit jumped

eightfold to a record on robust AI demand, before running into

some profit-taking.

China's blue chips inched up 0.2% and Hong Kong's

Hang Seng index slipped 0.3%.

BATTERED BONDS

Global bonds took a kicking on Thursday after the oil spike

and a hawkish Fed fuelled a sell-off in Treasuries. Benchmark

U.S. Treasury yields climbed 1 basis point to

4.4237%, having jumped 6 bps overnight to 4.434%, the highest

since late March.

The yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds

rose 4 bps to 2.500%, the highest since June

1997. Australia's 10-year government bond yields

jumped 6 bps to 5.066%.

The U.S. dollar popped up with higher yields, hovering near

its highest level in more than two weeks. It held at 160.26 yen

, after jumping 0.4% overnight to 160.48 yen, edging

closer to levels that have previously triggered intervention.

The Japanese currency has fallen more than 2% since the war

began on February 28, and investors have built the biggest short

yen position in nearly two years in a bet that neither rate

hikes nor risk of intervention will come to its rescue.