Australian GDP sank to 0.3 percent in the third quarter, significantly below analysts’ expectation of 0.7 percent, Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday. In the second quarter, GDP grew by 0.5 percent. In the fourth quarter, the RBA is expecting the annual growth to ease to 2.5 percent and will probably be around 2.5% to 2.75%.
Asia/Pacific
Taiwan probe finds 12 smartphone brands violate privacy rules
Taiwan has identified 12 smartphone brands that do not conform with privacy standards, and the handset makers could face fines or a ban unless they address the breaches, an official at the telecoms regulator said on Friday.
Struggling Sony to cut pay even as PM Abe calls for higher wages
Sony Corp is likely to cut average pay next year in a rare move for a big Japanese company, and one that goes against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push for higher wages to get the economy moving.
In North Korea, hackers are a handpicked, pampered elite
Despite its poverty and isolation, North Korea has poured resources into a sophisticated cyber-warfare cell called Bureau 121, defectors from the secretive state said as Pyongyang came under the microscope for a crippling hack into computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Fed's Fischer says government bond buys by ECB would have positive effects: La Repubblica
The European Central Bank should follow the example of the U.S. Federal Reserve and buy government bonds to prop up the tottering euro zone economy, the Fed's vice chair Stanley Fischer was quoted as saying in an Italian newspaper.
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Japan's auto recall enforcement division, whose 16 members work from a cramped office on the eighth floor of the transport ministry building in Tokyo, only found out about safety issues with Takata Corp air bags in late-2008 - more than three years after the company says it first learned of problems.
China's Shanghai Electric Power (600021.SS) said on Wednesday it was in preliminary contact with top German utility E.ON (EONGn.DE) over the possible purchase of its Italian assets.
China's services sector grew slightly faster in November, two surveys showed on Wednesday, a welcome respite to a run of underwhelming data but still unlikely to allay concerns about the softening Chinese economy.
The dollar marked a fresh seven-year high against the yen on Wednesday, which helped lift the Nikkei to a similar record, while oil prices recovered after data showed a drop in U.S. supply.
The founders of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA.N) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (0700.HK) were among a consortium of investors who purchased stakes in Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd (2318.HK) (601318.SS) in a HK$36.5 billion ($4.7 billion) deal on Sunday, in one of the largest Hong Kong share offerings of the year.
Japanese drugmaker Otsuka Holdings Co Ltd plans to buy U.S.-based Avanir Pharmaceuticals Inc for about $3.5 billion to expand its neurologic drug portfolio ahead of an expiration of a key drug patent.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd agreed to sell its fibre optics operations to U.S. specialty glass maker Corning Inc, exiting another non-core business to focus on shoring up underperforming key areas like smartphones.
Standard & Poor's on Tuesday cast doubt on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ability to repair Japan's tattered finances less than two weeks away from a snap election, after Moody's downgraded the country's sovereign debt rating.
Asian equities gained on Tuesday as a rebound in the crude oil price gave resource-related sectors a breather, but Tokyo shares bucked the trend and slipped as the yen's losing streak was tempered.
