* Topix up 0.5 pct, Nikkei up 0.1 pct, but yen weighs
* Real estate, financials strong after BOJ
* Key chart point seen at 9,704, high hit on Sept. 21
By Chikafumi Hodo
TOKYO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Japan's broader Topix index rose 0.5 percent on Thursday, supported by inflows into financial shares after the Bank of Japan's monetary easing earlier this week, but the strength of the yen kept a lid on gains.
Shares of financials including banks and brokerages got a shot in the arm after the central bank on Tuesday cut the interest rates to virtually at zero and pledged it would pump more funds into the struggling economy.
Yet the yen's strengthening to a new 15-year high against the dollar undermined sentiment, limiting active follow-through buying into stocks.
"The BOJ's easing lifted share prices, but now investors are focusing on the U.S. jobs data to determine the Fed's next action," said Nagayuki Yamagishi, a strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.
"Japanese share prices are expected to stay around current levels until we confirm the outcome of the U.S. jobs data."
On Wednesday, a private-sector report from payrolls processor ADP, a precursor to Friday's U.S. non-farm payrolls data, suggested the U.S. labour market remained anaemic in September.
The broader Topix index closed the morning session up 0.5 percent, or 4.48 points, at 848.98.
Financials performed strongly, with the banking subindex rising 1.9 percent and securities subindex climbing 2.3 percent.
Nomura Holdings jumped 2.8 percent to 447 yen, Mizuho Financial Group rose 2.4 percent to 129 yen and Resona Holdings advanced 1.8 percent to 722 yen.
The dollar was little changed at 82.94 yen after dipping to a 15-year low of 82.75 yen -- below the 82.87 yen mark where Japan moved to intervene on Sept. 15.
The benchmark Nikkei inched up 0.1 percent, or 11.33 points to 9,702.76.
The Nikkei average has gained more than 3 percent since the BOJ's credit easing on Tuesday.
"The effect of the BOJ's easing is still in place as we are seeing inflows into the property, construction and financial sectors. I believe this trend will continue for a while," said Hiroaki Osakabe, a fund manager at Chibagin Asset Management.
PROPERTY SHARES STRONG
Shares of the real estate sector stayed strong after the BOJ also announced a plan to set up a 5 trillion yen ($60 billion) fund to buy a wide range of assets including Japanese real estate investment trusts (J-REITs).
Mitsubishi Estate rose 2.2 percent to 1,509 yen, adding to gains of more than 4 percent made on Wednesday, and Sumitomo Realty & Development climbed 2.7 percent to 1,890 yen, after jumping about 5 percent the previous day.
The real estate subindex was up 1.8 percent.
The technical trend for the Nikkei looked strong after clearly breaking through key levels, including 9,530, the upper end of the closely watched Ichimoku chart.
No clear technical resistance is seen until the 200-day moving average of around 10,066, but traders are watching 9,704 -- an intraday high reached on Sept. 21 -- as a key chart point.
A break above 9,807 -- another intraday high hit on July 14 -- would pave the way for the Nikkei to rise towards 10,000, traders said.
News of acquisitions pushed down shares of Asahi Glass and Elpida Memory Inc.
Asahi Glass fell 1.1 percent to 871 yen after the company said it would make its Korean unit, Hankuk Electric Glass, a wholly owned subsidiary for 15.9 billion yen ($192 million).
Japanese PC memory maker Elpida Memory's shares dropped 1.9 percent to 910 yen after it said it is considering buying shares in Taiwanese chipmakers to boost its competitiveness against industry leader Samsung Electronics Co. (Reporting by Chikafumi Hodo; Editing by Chris Gallagher)