ASIA:

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday demanded an apology from the Chinese government for tweeting a “falsified” and “repugnant” image of an Australian soldier killing a child in Afghanistan, amid escalating political tensions between Canberra and Beijing. Morrison said Australia has reached out to the Chinese government and also contacted Twitter to have the post removed.

Independent economists and experts have bumped up their gross domestic product (GDP) estimates for the year ending March following a lower-than-expected contraction in the September quarter. The decline in FY21 GDP is expected to be less than the double-digit shrinkage forecast earlier. According to data released by the National Statistical Office on Friday, India’s GDP shrank 7.5% against a median expectation of 10.2% contraction in an ET poll of economists conducted a week before.

The major Asian stock markets had a negative day today:

• NIKKEI 225 decreased 211.09 points or -0.79% to 26,433.62
• Shanghai decreased 16.55 points or -0.49% to 3,391.76
• Hang Seng decreased 553.19 points or -2.06% to 26,341.49
• ASX 200 decreased 83.30 points or -1.26% to 6,517.80
• Kospi decreased 42.11 points or -1.60% to 2,591.34
• SENSEX closed
• Nifty50 closed

The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today:

• AUDUSD decreased 0.0036 or -0.49% to 0.73504
• NZDUSD decreased 0.0009 or -0.12% to 0.70133
• USDJPY increased 0.2760 or 0.27% to 104.36
• USDCNY increased 0.0089 or 0.14% to 6.58236

Precious Metals:

• Gold decreased 7.83 USD/t oz. or -0.44% to 1,780.30
• Silver decreased 0.215 USD/t. oz or -0.95%% to 22.480

Some economic news from last night:

China:

Chinese Composite PMI (Nov) increased from 55.3 to 55.7

Manufacturing PMI (Nov) increased from 51.4 to 52.1

Non-Manufacturing PMI (Nov) increased from 56.2 to 56.4

Japan:

Industrial Production (MoM) (Oct) decreased from 3.9% to 3.8%

Industrial Production forecast 1m ahead (MoM) (Nov) decreased from 4.5% to 2.7%

Industrial Production forecast 2m ahead (MoM) (Dec) decreased from 1.2% to -2.4%

Retail Sales (YoY) (Oct) increased from -8.7% to 6.4%

South Korea:

Industrial Production (MoM) (Oct) decreased from 5.5% to -1.2%

Industrial Production (YoY) (Oct) decreased from 8.0% to -2.2%

Retail Sales (MoM) decreased from 1.7% to -0.9%