GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks climb, dollar droops on Fed easing bets

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Asian equities rose on Thursday, with Japanese shares hitting a record high, as tech-led gains on Wall Street, upbeat earnings and growing expectations for U.S. rate cuts boosted sentiment.

The prospect of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine also underpinned sentiment, benefitting the euro, while weighing on oil prices as traders gauged the outlook for sanctions on Moscow.

Sterling held its ground at a one-week high going into the Bank of England's policy announcement later in the day, with a quarter-point cut widely expected, and the focus falling on a possible three-way split within the board.

At the same time, markets largely shook off Trump's latest tariff threats, including an additional 25% tariff on India over purchases of Russian oil and a threatened 100% duty on chips.

Japan's broad Topix index .TOPX rose 0.9% to reach an all-time high, with the more tech-focused Nikkei .N225 also gaining by about the same margin.

Taiwan's stock benchmark .TWII surged 2.3% to a more than one-year peak. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 added 0.6%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI rose 0.4%, and mainland Chinese blue chips .CSI300 advanced 0.3%.

Australian shares .AXJO edged slightly lower after hitting a record high on Wednesday.

U.S. stock futures were buoyant, with those for the S&P 500 EScv1 up 0.3% and those for the Nasdaq NQc1 also rising 0.3%. On Wednesday, the S&P 500 .SPX climbed 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC jumped 1.2%.

"Wall Street seems to have gotten its mojo back," Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda wrote in a note.

"However, there are persistent risks to the downside. Downside surprises in official data are increasing," he said.

"Valuations are also stretched, with forward price to earnings hovering around the highest in four years. And trade uncertainty persists."

The U.S. dollar remained lower against major peers on Thursday, with expectations of easier policy from the Federal Reserve stoked both by some disappointing macroeconomic indicators - not least Friday's payrolls report - and Trump's move to install new picks on the Fed board that are likely to share the U.S. President's dovish views on monetary policy.

Focus is centring on Trump's nomination to fill a coming vacancy on the Fed's Board of Governors and candidates for the next chair of the central bank, with current Chair Jerome Powell's tenure due to end in May.

The dollar index =USD, which gauges the currency against the euro, sterling and four other counterparts, gained slightly to 98.245, after dropping 0.6% on Wednesday.

The euro EUR=EBS was little changed at $1.1657, following the previous session's 0.7% jump.

Sterling GBP=D3 was steady at $1.3356.

The BoE looks poised to cut interest rates for the fifth time in 12 months later on Thursday, but nagging worries about inflation are likely to split its policymakers and cloud the outlook for its next moves.

Two Monetary Policy Committee members may push for a half-point rate cut, and two may lobby for no change.

The dollar added 0.1% to 147.53 yen JPY=EBS.

Gold XAU= gained 0.4% to around $3,382 per ounce, buoyed by the weaker dollar.

Crude oil clawed back some losses from Wednesday, when both Brent and West Texas Intermediate slid about 1%.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 were last up 20 cents, or 0.3%, at $67.09 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 gained 22 cents, or 0.3%, to $64.57 a barrel.