Stock markets move sideways

HONGKONG – Most stock markets in Asia moved sideways yesterday as the summer doldrums and a lack of economic data ahead of a widely anticipated speech by the Fed chief kept investors on the sidelines.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Japan slipped 0.2 percent to 16,566.76 while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2 percent to 2,045.36. HongKong's Hang Seng shed 0.4 percent to 22,914.10 and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China edged up 0.3 percent to 3,093.81. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.9 percent to 5,565.20. Benchmarks in Taiwan and New Zealand rose. Those in Singapore and Indonesia fell.

"Markets continue to trade eerily quietly in the low-volume low-volatility dog days of the Northern hemisphere summer," said Angus Nicholson if IG Markets in Melbourne. "The markets seem to be already discounting the possibility that Yellen may look to talk up a September rate hike."

Oil prices extended losses. US benchmark crude dropped 63 cents to $46.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.70 to close at $47.41 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, used to price oil internationally, dropped 56 cents to $48.60 a barrel.