On Monday, South Korea is set to release its industrial production and retail sales figures for November, marking a relatively quiet day in Asia-Pacific's economic calendar. Industrial production is projected to decline by 0.4% month-over-month while showing a modest annual increase of 0.4%, following a static monthly report and a significant 6.3% year-on-year rise in October. Retail sales had decreased by 0.4% month-over-month in October.
Meanwhile, Japan is expected to publish the December manufacturing PMI results from Jibun Bank. Predictions indicate a slight improvement with the index anticipated to edge up to 49.5 from 49.0 in November.
Hong Kong is also scheduled to release its trade statistics for November, including data on imports, exports, and trade balance. In October, imports increased by 4.5% month-over-month, and exports rose by 3.5%, resulting in a trade deficit of HKD 31.0 billion.
