TOKYO, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average

rose on Thursday, as a softer yen and a record high on Wall

Street overnight buoyed investor sentiment.

The Nikkei climbed 0.5% to 39,488.51 by the midday

break, after touching its highest intraday level since Nov. 12

at 39,632.3 earlier in the session.

The broader Topix was up 0.2% at 2,745.44.

All three major U.S. stock indexes scored record closing

highs on Wednesday, led by technology shares, after upbeat

results from Salesforce ( CRM ) and comments by Federal Reserve

Chair Jerome Powell gave a late boost to the market.

Japanese technology shares tracked their U.S. peers higher,

with chip-testing equipment maker Advantest ( ADTTF ) rising

3.4%.

Electronics component manufacturer Fujikura ( FKURF ) surged

6.2% amid expected demand for data centers.

AI-focused startup investor SoftBank Group was up

2.3%.

A fall in yen also gave equities a boost, which slid

following media reports that threw doubt on market bets that the

Bank of Japan will hike interest rates this month.

Heavyweight stocks including staffing agency Recruit

Holdings ( RCRRF ) rose 3.6% and Uniqlo parent firm Fast

Retailing ( FRCOF ) added 0.7%.

But the Nikkei struggled to push higher, with just under

half of its 225 constituents in the red.

"There weren't many other factors to further drive the rise,

so we saw some selling to lock in profits when the Nikkei

reached the upper 39,000-point range," said Masahiro Ichikawa,

chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management.

Ichikawa expects it might be difficult for the Nikkei to

finish trading at 40,000 within the remainder of the year, with

investors awaiting more clarity on U.S. President-elect Donald

Trump's policies.

Market players will also be keeping an eye on the next bout

of company revenue reports, due to start late January.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries ( KWHIF ) jumped 6.7% to become the

top gainer on the Nikkei index.