Japanese shares reversed earlier losses to turn positive on Thursday, as foreign investors bought battered blue chips and as the yen pulled back from all-time highs.

The broad TOPIX was up 0.3 percent as of 0530 GMT (1:30 a.m. ET), after falling as much as 4.3 percent earlier.

The Nikkei average and futures traded on the Osaka Securities Exchange also briefly turned positive on the day.

Ten-year JGB futures were up 0.06 points at 139.78.

(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Writing by Kazunori Takada; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)