Nikkei soars on Microsoft ruling

TOKYO, Japan -- Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average jumped more than two percent in early trade on Friday, buoyed by strong gains on Wall Street.

Markets in Korea, Taiwan and Australia were also stronger.

Taipei's Taiex was up 2.1 percent or 100.5 points to 4869.10, while in Seoul the Kospi was up 1.3 percent or 7.63 points to 590.90.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 gained 23 points mid-morning to be up 0.7 percent to 3445.1 -- a record high.

Japan's bullish performance followed a U.S. court decision overturning a ruling that would have split up software giant Microsoft Corp.

'Good development' for market sentiment

"Microsoft represents the U.S. high-tech sector. From the standpoint of market sentiment, this is a good development," said Motoharu Sone, senior analyst at Tsubasa Securities.

The benchmark Nikkei average was up 1.95 percent at 12,926.93 mid-morning after rising as high as 12,957.13, or up 2.19 percent.

Consumer electronics maker Sony gained 1.23 percent to 8,200 yen and chip and computer maker Fujitsu advanced 3.29 percent to 1,318 yen.

Makers of chip-manufacturing equipment also rose. Advantest was up 2.31 percent to 10,640 yen and Tokyo Electron rose 3.07 percent at 7,380 yen.

Koizumi, Bush to meet at weekend

The market was also supported by hopes that the weekend meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush may prove supportive for the Japanese economy.

Traders said one of the major topics at the meeting will be the massive bad loans held at Japanese banks, and Bush's expected backing for Koizumi's plans to press ahead with their disposal.

In Southeast Asia, markets in Singapore and Malaysia also opened stronger Friday.

Reuters contributed to this report.