By Nichiket Sunil

May 6 (Reuters) - Asian currencies climbed on Wednesday as U.S. efforts to secure a peace deal with Iran pushed oil prices lower and boosted chip stocks, helping Samsung Electronics 005930.KS surge past a $1 trillion market value and lifting South Korean shares.

Traders across global markets breathed a sigh of relief after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled "great progress" toward a comprehensive agreement in Iran and said he would briefly pause an operation to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Oil prices declined on the news, easing pressure on Asian currencies that had been weighed down by rising energy costs. Inflation has surged across the region due to the Middle East conflict, with the Philippines and Thailand each reporting three-year highs in April.

"The announcements have soothed markets again providing hope that all sides would keep working in the direction of achieving peace," Maybank analysts said in a note.

"The war though could be said to be in a transition phase as tensions could be easing from peak levels."

The Philippine peso PHP= stabilised after a sharp selloff that had driven it to record lows, while the Thai baht, another oil-exposed currency, strengthened to 32.48 per dollar.

The South Korean won KRW=KFTC gained as much as 1.4%, reaching the strongest level since April 17, while Indonesia's rupiah IDR= held steady after hitting an all-time low in the previous session.

In equity markets, shares of Samsung Electronics 005930.KS surged 14% to exceed $1 trillion in market capitalisation, becoming the second East Asian firm to join the trillion-dollar valuation milestone after Taiwan's TSMC 2330.TW.

The rally in Samsung, the world's top memory chipmaker, mirrored gains in the U.S. chip stocks, as investor focus shifted back to strong earnings and resilient demand for semiconductors.

"The AI & Semiconductor supercycle is the dominant driver. Markets are citing ongoing earnings improvement from expanded AI infrastructure investment and a recovery in the semiconductor industry," said Inki Cho, senior financial market strategist at Exness.

Samsung, along with rival SK Hynix 000660.KS, helped lift South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index .KS11 past the 7,000 level for the first time. The benchmark has climbed 12% in May alone, taking its gains for 2026 to more than 75%.

Taiwan stocks .TWII followed the rally, rising as much as 2% to their highest point.

Southeast Asia equities followed suit, with Thai .SETI and Jakarta .JKSE markets posting solid gains, up 1% and 0.8%, respectively.

HIGHLIGHTS:
** South Korea inflation near two-year high, raising likelihood of rate hikes
** Trump, Xi likely to discuss Taiwan next week, U.S. says
** China services activity grows at faster rate in April, private PMI shows

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0407 GMT
COUNTRY	FX RIC	FX DAILY %	FX YTD %	INDEX	STOCKS DAILY %	STOCKS YTD %
Japan	JPY=	+0.06	-0.71	.N225	-	14.82
China	CNY=CFXS	+0.17	+2.47	.SSEC	1.27	4.93
India	INR=IN	+0.20	-5.49	.NSEI	0.58	-7.49
Indonesia	IDR=	+0.03	-4.22	.JKSE	0.77	-17.76
Malaysia	MYR=	+0.23	+2.66	.KLSE	0.50	4.53
Philippines	PHP=	+0.00	-4.18	.PSI	0.85	-1.73
S.Korea	KRW=KFTC	+1.23	-1.30	.KS11	6.79	75.78
Singapore	SGD=	+0.15	+0.95	.STI	0.09	6.00
Taiwan	TWD=TP	+0.30	-0.23	.TWII	0.82	41.91
Thailand	THB=TH	+0.15	-3.20	.SETI	1.28	19.80