2013.06.1104:43:44UTC+00Japan stocks decline ahead of Bank of Japan call

Japanese stocks retreated in early Tuesday trade after a steep rally in the previous session, with the markets awaiting the outcome of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting later in the day. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.4% to 13,461.44 after Monday's 4.9% climb, while the Topix gave up 0.1%. Despite a modest weakening in the yen overnight, exporter majors moved mostly down, with Nikon Corp. declining 2.5%, Fujitsu Ltd. surrendered 1.7%, and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. backsliding by 2.7%. Some blue-chip exporter stocks bucked the trend, however, with Toyota Motor Corp. jumping 0.7%, and Sony Corp. surge 0.3% after videogame rival Microsoft Corp. said it would price its new console at $499, higher than past consoles. Shares of KDDI Corp. relinquished 1.6% after saying it may offer a trade-in program for customers using the Apple Inc. iPhone 5 to apologize for previous, inaccurate advertisements regarding service areas, according to a Nikkei report. Rival Softbank Corp. dive down 1.1% after a Dow Jones Newswires report saying the telecom had agreed to raise its offer price for Sprint Nextel Corp.. Financials traded mostly higher, with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. each boosting 1.5% ahead of the Bank of Japan decision. Economists generally expected the central bank to keep its policy unaltered but to further upgrade its assessment of the economy, according to reports.