Regional stockmarkets were hovering around the flat mark today as traders paused after good recent gains. The Nikkei is up 0.35%, the Kospi +0.13 and the ASX200 down a touch, -0.22%.
In Tokyo, Nippon Steel was lower, down 1.7%, as was real-estate stock Mitsui Fudosan, down 1.3%. However Automakers and technology were up. Toyota, +1.0%, Sony +1% and Tokyo Electron +1.5%.
In Sydney the main news was NAB and its $A2 billion institutional placement. NAB is trading down 5,3%. Elsewhere, BHP was down0.4% but RIO was up 2%.
Shares in Korea were choppy, KB Financial up 3% but LG Electronics was down 1.4%, even after a reporting a record profit for Q2. Hyundai is off 1.2% before its Q2 profit report tomorrow.