Finland: Nokia prospects brighten as chairman search narrows - by Tarmo Virki and Jonathan Standing

Struggling phone maker Nokia Oyj basked in brightening prospects for its much-hyped Windows phone on Thursday as it prepared to strengthen the hand of new boss Stephen Elop by replacing its old-guard chairman.

Shares in the Finnish company, which has been losing ground to rivals in the fast moving market for "smart" mobile phones, topped the gainers board in the FTSEurofirst 300 index, standing 4.8 percent higher at 4.076 euros by 1415 GMT.

Encouraging December figures from a Taiwan-based supplier of the phones provided fresh impetus for the stock, along with broker upgrades citing an improving outlook for the software tie-up with Microsoft on which it gambled its future last year.

Compal Communications, a provider of Nokia handsets, said December sales grew 275 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.51 billion ($149 million) from 1.2 billion, according to a Taiwan Stock Exchange website posting.

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