Shares in Microsoft Corp. rose as much as 6 percent on Friday after the world's largest software maker spent a day outlining its future growth strategy and said it would step up research spending. Microsoft rose to $45.41 in early trade, but has since settled to $44.86, up 2 percent, while the Nasdaq index rose 0.7 percent. Microsoft shares are down 32 percent so far this year compared with Nasdaq's 36 percent fall. Microsoft, which reported last week that annual earnings rose seven percent for the June-ended fiscal year, even as other software makers face shrinking profits and revenues, also said its latest Windows XP operating system was its fastest selling software ever with 46 million sold since October.
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