Of the more than 1,500 stocks trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's prime market, 47% rose, 48% fell and 4% traded flat.
"The markets remain cautious about buying chip-related stocks after a sharp rise in the first half of this year," said Kazuaki Shimada, chief strategist at IwaiCosmo Securities.
"However, market sentiment is firm because the Topix rose, signalling the money was shifted to value stocks."
Banks rose, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group 8306.T and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group 8316.T up 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively.
Fibre optic cable maker Fujikura 5803.T rose 2.83% and memory chip maker Kioxia 285A.T was up 5.16%.
Japan's Nikkei share average reversed early gains on Thursday, dragged down by Nvidia supplier Advantest, while the broader Topix inched higher on value-buying.
The Nikkei .N225 was down 0.14% at 66,170.13, as of 0204 GMT, while the broader Topix .TOPX rose 0.19% to 4,118.69.
The Nikkei opened higher after chip company Nvidia NVDA.O shares rose nearly 5% in extended trading following a forecast that revenue would jump 70% next fiscal year.
The index changed course as chip-testing equipment maker Advantest erased its gains to trade lower. Advantest was last down 1.96%. Technology investor SoftBank Group 9984.T eased 0.56%.
