Japan's Nikkei share average edged higher during the morning session on Tuesday, as investors shifted focus to value stocks over semiconductor and other high-tech shares, while a yen on the back foot continued to support export-related stocks.

The Nikkei was up 0.51% at 39,001.39 by the midday break, while the broader Topix climbed 1.44% to 2,779.59.

U.S. semiconductor bellwether Nvidia slid for a third session on Monday, while the chip stocks index finished down 3.02%, dampening investor sentiment toward artificial intelligence- and chip-related shares during Asian trading hours.

Disco Corp shares declined 5.3% to be the largest percentage losers, and Tokyo Electron fell 2.5% to single-handedly swipe 86 points off the benchmark index.

AI-focused startup investor SoftBank Group slipped 1.7% to become the second biggest drag.

But a weaker yen continued to support export-related shares that tend to benefit from a soft domestic currency, which hovered close to a 34-year low of 160.245 per dollar.

Meanwhile, investors picked up value stocks over their growth peers, generating widespread gains in the financial sector to help lift the Nikkei.

Banks added 3.5% to lead sector gains, followed closely by insurance and securities firms, both up around 3.3%.

"Nikkei is a more value-oriented market, and investors may be rebalancing during the approaching quarter-end to gain exposure to the lagging part of the market," Charu Chanana, global market strategist and head of FX strategy at Saxo said.

"A selective and bottoms-up approach for Japanese stocks could be attractive from here as yen appreciation risks escalate in H2."

Among financial stocks, Daiwa Securities Group jumped 4.2%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 4.1%, and Resona Holdings rose about 4%.

Shares of Mizuho Financial Group were up 3.7%.

In other individual stocks, auto maker and index heavyweight Toyota Motor rallied 3.8%. (Reporting by Brigid Riley; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)