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Japan's Nikkei held steady near a six-month high on Monday as profit-taking in outperformers like Toyota Motor Corp and mobile operator KDDI Corp offset the gains in financials, which were fuelled by recent strong quarterly results.
The Nikkei ended flat at 15,164.30 after hitting a six-month high of 15,273.61 earlier in the session.
The benchmark gained 7.7% last week, its best weekly rise in four years. The index is up 46% so far this year, spurred by Japan's massive fiscal and monetary stimulus.
KDDI dropped 2.3%, retreating from a 13-year-high reached on Friday and giving up some of last week's 13% rally, which was its best one-week rise in five years.
Toyota eased 0.3 percent and electronic, ceramic component maker Kyocera Corp lost 1.7%. Industrial robot maker Fanuc Corp fell 0.5%. They had all posted strong gains last week.
Banking shares were in demand, however, after banks recently posted strong quarterly results and lifted their full-year profit guidance. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group gained 1.8%.
The broader Topix index closed up 0.2 percent at 1,241.67, with 2.84 billion shares changing hands, down from Friday's 3.21 billion but up from last week's daily average of 2.74 billion.
