TOKYO, July 11 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei share average

surged to another record high during morning trade on Thursday,

as a rally in U.S. stocks overnight boosted investor sentiment.

The Nikkei was up 0.83% to 42,179.84 by the midday

break, after jumping over 1% to an all-time intraday high of

42,426.77 points. It was the first time the benchmark index has

crossed the 42,000-point mark.

The broader Topix was up 0.66% at 2,928.30.

Strong performances in all three of Wall Street's main stock

indexes on Wednesday kicked off the rally. The Nasdaq and S&P

500 finished at record high closes as U.S. chip maker Nvidia and

other heavyweights gained ahead of inflation data and quarterly

earnings reports.

Japan's semiconductor-related shares marched higher with

their U.S. peers, which got a boost from strong quarterly

revenue results from contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor

Manufacturing Co.

Gains were widespread, with 178 of the Nikkei's 225

constituents advancing, including index heavyweights Uniqlo

parent firm Fast Retailing ( FRCOF ), up 1.5%.

Japanese equities have climbed to all-time highs over the

past two weeks, with analysts citing further yen depreciation

and more clarity on the outcome of this year's U.S. presidential

election as reasons.

Analysts expect Japanese shares to see further momentum as

companies report earnings this month.

"This earnings season, Japanese corporate earnings are

likely to be better than expected because of the degree of yen

depreciation," Kenji Abe, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities

said.

"There may be some further increases in equity prices as we

see good earnings reports from companies," potentially pushing

the Nikkei as high as 42,600 or 42,700 points, he said.

Among chip-related shares, chip-making equipment giant Tokyo

Electron ( TOELF ) rose 1.2% and Disco Corp ( DISPF ) climbed

about 3%.

Socionext ( SOCNF ) jumped 4.7% to become one of the best

performers by percentage, just behind Sumco ( SUMCF ), up 5.1%.

Sony Group ( SONY ) came in third, with the tech and

entertainment conglomerate gaining 3.7%.

(Reporting by Brigid Riley; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)