Microsoft Corp reported a greater-than-expected 30 percent increase in fiscal fourth-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by sales of its Office software, but profit from its core Windows product fell on soft personal computer sales.

The world's largest software company posted net profit of $5.87 billion, or 69 cents per share, compared with $4.52 billion, or 51 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

That easily beat Wall Street's average estimate of 58 cents, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 8 percent to $17.37 billion, ahead of analysts' average estimate of $17.23 billion.

Microsoft shares rose 1.3 percent in after-hours trading, after closing at $27.09 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Bill Rigby; Editing by Richard Chang)

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