HELSINKI (Bloomberg) -- Nokia Oyj, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, said its market share in the second quarter will rise from the 36 percent reached in the previous three months, sending the stock to its highest in more than four years.

The company had previously predicted its market share would be unchanged sequentially. The changed forecast is the result of excess inventory being cleared off, Espoo, Finland-based Nokia said Monday in a stock exchange statement.

Nokia said some competitors had excess devices in their inventories, without naming them. The market share gap between Nokia and closest rival Motorola Inc. widened to its largest in more than three years in the first quarter as the Schaumburg, Illinois-based company failed to unveil devices to replace the bestselling Razr model, Strategy Analytics said last month. “The focus of investors is squarely on Nokia's market share right now, and the raised forecast Monday confirms the company's strength while its competitors falter,” said Tommi Saukkoriipi, a fund manager at Nordea Bank AB in Stockholm, which oversees the equivalent of about $172 billion including Nokia stock. “Nokia's economies of scale are kicking in, demonstrating that it can increase market share while maintaining solid profitability.”

Shares of Nokia rose as much as 90 cents, or 4.9 percent, to 19.32 euros, the biggest gain in more than three months and the highest level since December 2002. They traded at 19.28 euros in Helsinki, valuing the company at 75.7 billion euros ($102.6 billion). Before Monday, the stock has gained 19 percent this year.