** Data centre-focused stocks in Australia gain after Microsoft MSFT.O forecast strong growth for its cloud business, and Meta META.O said it expects to spend on new data centres to boost its AI goals

** Goodman Group GMG.AX, Australia's biggest-listed property developer with a significant exposure to data centres, jumps as much as 4.3%, highest since March 26

** Peer DigiCo DGT.AX rises as much as 8.2%, top gainer on the benchmark ASX200 .AXJO

** Data centre developer and operator NEXTDC NXT.AX gains as much as 5.8%, a 5-week high

** Tech sub-index .AXIJ up ~3% vs a flat AXJO

(Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru)

((Tanishk.Kumar@thomsonreuters.com; X: @thatstanishk;))