| Japanese markets rallied after reports emerged that SoftBank Group and Nvidia are in talks to lead an investment of over $1 billion at a $14 billion valuation in U.S. data center company Skild AI.
Investors also digested data that showed Japan's industrial output grew slightly more than initially estimated in October.
The Nikkei average jumped 1.37 percent to 50,836.55 ahead of the Bank of Japan's interest-rate decision due next week.
The broader Topix index surged 1.98 percent to 3,423.83. Shares of technology investor SoftBank climbed 3.9 percent while semiconductor industry supplier Advantest fell 1.2 percent and Tokyo Electron tumbled 3.4 percent after Oracle's disappointing results. |