Japan's Nikkei climbs 2% to record high as tech shares rally

By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average climbed to an all-time high on Friday, as tech stocks jumped following strong sales forecasts overnight from Apple AAPL.O and Amazon AMZN.O.

A weaker yen was also a tailwind for Japan's heavyweight exporters, following its slide to a record low against the euro EURJPY= and the lowest level since February versus the dollar JPY= on Thursday.

The Nikkei .N225 rose as much as 2.1% to an unprecedented 52,391.45 in early trading.

The broader Topix .TOPX gained 1.4% to reach a record high of 3,348.06.

Chip-sector shares were among the biggest gainers. Socionext 6526.T 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 6723.T rallied 9.2%.

Artificial intelligence data centre-related shares also gained, with Hitachi 6501.T jumping 9.3%. AI-focused startup investor SoftBank Group 9984.T gained 2.8%.

Sony Group 6758.T 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.