(Updates prices, adds details throughout)

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 )

and Amazon ( AMZN ).

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 ( SOCNF )

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 ( HTHIF ) jumping 9.3%. AI-focused startup

investor SoftBank Group ( SFTBF ) gained 2.8%.

Sony Group ( SONY ) rose 4.5%.

On Thursday, Apple ( AAPL ) 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 ( AMZN ) cloud revenue rose at the fastest

clip in nearly three years, helping the company forecast

quarterly sales above estimates.

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Himani Sarkar and

Subhranshu Sahu)