Japan looks set for recession

Asia kicked off the data reporting week on a weak note.

Japan's economy contracted 0.9 percent in the July-September quarter following growth of 0.1 percent in the prior quarter.

A decline in net exports accounted for 0.7 percentage points of the contraction after exports fell 5.0 percent.

Private consumption fell 0.5 percent while capital expenditure fell 3.2 percent, the fastest pace of decline since the second quarter of 2009.

“The GDP data confirms that the economy has fallen into a recession,” said Tatsushi Shikano, senior economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo. “It is set for a second straight quarter of contraction in the current quarter.”

Meanwhile, in China, new local-currency loans by banks fell 14 percent in October from a year earlier.

And in India, industrial production fell 0.4 percent in September from a year earlier while exports fell 1.6 percent in October from a year earlier.