Japan's key Nikkei index closed Thursday at its highest level in about 10 months on upbeat corporate earnings, recovering national industrial output and a weaker yen. The benchmark Nikkei-225 index ended up 51.97 points, or 0.51 percent, from Wednesday to 10,165.21. It marked the benchmark index's highest close since Oct. 6 when it closed at 10,473.09. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 6.58 points, or 0.71 percent, to 936. 94, extending gains for the 10th straight session in its longest rally since August 2004. Gainers were led by auto, insurance and electrical machinery issues. Oil and coal product, metal product and nonferrous metal issues were among the major decliners. Japanese industrial output in June gained 2.4 percent from the previous month, marking the fourth straight month of rise, the government said Thursday, assuring the economy is on the path of recovery. Better-than-expected corporate earnings of major automakers, one of the pillars of Japanese economy, also lifted market sentiment. Honda Motor, the day's value leader which raised its full-year profit outlook Wednesday, jumped 240 yen, or almost 9 percent, to 3,010 yen. Nissan Motor surged 63 yen, or almost 10 percent, to 694 yen as investors cheered the automaker's return to profit in the April-June quarter. Among other notable gainers, Fujitsu General Ltd. surged 11.55 percent to 309 yen. The maker of air-conditioning units said its first-quarter net income more than tripled to 1.38 billion yen from 441 million yen a year ago, helped by lower copper and aluminum prices. Electronics giant Sony, which posted quarterly losses and joint production of LCD panels with Sharp after trading closed, also gained almost 7 percent. However, chipmaker NEC Electronics fell 54 yen, or over 5 percent, to 967 yen after reporting a net loss for the April-June quarter the previous day. On the First Section, declining issues outnumbered advancing issues 834 to 675, with 173 others remaining unchanged. Trading volume on the main section reached 1,946.41 million shares, up slightly from Wednesday's 1,945.70 million. The TSE's Second Section index was down 1.06 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,225.98 on a volume of 34.03 million shares. On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term September Nikkei 225 index futures contract was up 90 points to 10,200. 