UPDATE 1-Nissan calls for Japan-only recall of 500,000 March cars

TOKYO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co Ltd, Japan's No.2 automaker, intends to recall 498,793 March/Micra hatchbacks in Japan to fix an external rear combination light that may not properly work.

No accidents or injuries have been reported due to the fault, a Nissan spokesman said, who declined to disclose an estimate for the cost of the recall.

The problem only occurs in cars sold in Japan.

The faulty vehicles were built in Nissan's Oppama factory, south of Tokyo, between February 2002 and February 2009 and its Sunderland plant in northeast England between June 2007 and December 2007.

Recalls exceeding several hundred thousand vehicles have become more frequent at major automakers since they use common components across multiple models to save design and production costs.

Last month, Toyota Motor Corp announced a recall of 2.77 million vehicles worldwide for steering and water pump problems, its third global recall of over one million vehicles for the year.

Nissan shares were down 0.5 percent in late afternoon trade, not much different than before the release, and below an 0.6 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei 225.