ASIA MARKETS: Korea Stocks Fall; Japan Flat Before BOJ Decision

By Daniel Inman

Japanese stocks were little changed Tuesday before the Bank of Japan's policy decision, while a decline in Samsung Electronics weighed on the South Korean market.

After falling sharply against the yen last week, the U.S. dollar (USDJPY) continued to edge closer to the much-watched Yen100 mark overnight, though it stabilized early Tuesday -- recently at Yen98.75 compared with Yen98.74 late Monday in New York.

The dollar was supported after Standard & Poor's upgraded its ratings outlook on the U.S. to stable from negative on Monday, citing the country's strong economic performance.

Investors were cautious before the Bank of Japan's policy meeting, scheduled to conclude on Tuesday. Central-bank Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, was expected to maintain the easy monetary policy launched earlier this year. Any surprises however could fuel the volatility that has dominated Japanese stocks since the market started to sell off on May 23.

Japanese stocks were little changed before the meeting, with the Nikkei Average flat after Monday's 4.9% surge.

Softbank Corp. (9984.TO) rose 0.7% in Tokyo after the company agreed to raise its offer for Sprint Nextel Corp. (US-S) to $21.6 billion from $20.1 billion previously.

Also in Tokyo, Olympus Corp. (OCPNF) gained 1.3% after the Tokyo Stock Exchange said it would remove the company's "security on alert" designation, nearly one and a half years after the warning was issued due to the company's internal controls.

South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6%, with the index weighed down by its single largest constituent, Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNLF), which lost 1.8% due to concerns that its Galaxy S4 smart phone may not be selling as well as expected.

Australia resumed trading after closing on Monday for a public holiday, getting its first chance to react to the events that influenced the previous session -- namely, last week's forecast-beating nonfarm payrolls data and disappointing Chinese economic data that came out over the weekend.

The S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.1%.

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