Skanska second-quarter operating profit above forecast

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish building group Skanska <SKAb.ST> reported on Wednesday a second-quarter operating profit above analysts' expectations and said the market situation was overall positive.

Operating profit at the Nordic region's largest builder - and one of the biggest in the United States - was 2.74 billion crowns (232.6 million pounds) against a mean forecast in a poll of analysts of 2.26 billion. A year earlier, the profit was 1.29 billion crowns.

Order bookings at the Construction division fell to 34.6 billion crowns from 39.1 billion.

(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm; editing by Johannes Hellstrom)