TOKYO: Japan's Nikkei share average climbed to an all-time high on Friday, as tech stocks jumped following strong sales forecasts overnight from Apple and Amazon.
A weaker yen was also a tailwind for Japan's heavyweight exporters, following its slide to a record low against the euro and the lowest level since February versus the dollar on Thursday.
The Nikkei rose as much as 2.1% to an unprecedented 52,391.45 in early trading.
The broader Topix gained 1.4% to reach a record high of 3,348.06.
Chip-sector shares were among the biggest gainers. Socionext soared 16.7%, and Advantest advanced 2.7%, which was enough to make it the Nikkei's largest gainer in terms of index points due to its heavy weighting. Renesas rallied 9.2%.
Artificial intelligence data centre-related shares also gained, with Hitachi jumping 9.3%. AI-focused startup investor SoftBank Group gained 2.8%.
Sony Group rose 4.5%.
On Thursday, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook gave forecasts for holiday-quarter iPhone sales and overall revenue that surpassed Wall Street expectations.
At the same time, Amazon's cloud revenue rose at the fastest clip in nearly three years, helping the company forecast quarterly sales above estimates. - Reuters
