Morning Bid: Waiting on Nvidia for next leg of AI rally

Aug 25 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Rae Wee

It's been a muted start to the session in Asia on Tuesday, with stocks drifting ahead of Nvidia's earnings this week, where expectations are running sky high for the artificial intelligence darling to deliver stellar results.

Technology shares remained under pressure following Alibaba's launch of a $10.2 billion share sale at a steep discount to fund its AI ambitions as well as disappointment over Samsung Electronics' shareholder-return plan in the previous session.

Meanwhile, a roughly 45% slump in the shares of Unitree since a more than fivefold jump on its Shanghai debut has triggered concerns about bubble risk, retail investor losses and flaws in the IPO system.

Shares of China's best-known humanoid robot maker were largely flat on Tuesday, following days of declines since its listing.

Much now rides on Nvidia to drive the next leg of the AI rally, given its role as a bellwether for the broader AI ecosystem spanning chipmakers and companies financing the rapid expansion of data center capacity.

Elsewhere, oil prices were nursing losses after threats from the U.S. for an "economic D-Day" of sanctions on Iran turned out to be a damp squib.

The U.S. on Monday unveiled an expansion of sanctions that it said would cut off Iran's economic lifeline but stopped short of the most punishing measures, instead putting the world on notice to cease doing business with the Islamic Republic.

Tehran promised to retaliate against the sanctions and expressed confidence that major trading partners would resist Washington's pressure campaign.

As the war in the Middle East drags on, investors await a string of data releases from Europe this week, including German GDP data and the German Ifo survey later on Tuesday, which could shed light on the economic cost of higher-for-longer energy prices.

Key developments that could influence markets on Tuesday:

- Germany GDP, Ifo survey

- Reopening of 2-year German government debt auction

- Reopening of 7-year UK government debt auction

- U.S. Conference Board's consumer confidence

- Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin speaks

(Editing by Saad Sayeed)