China's manufacturing activity in December contracted for the first time in over two years, official data showed Monday, amid a bruising trade war with the United States and a slowing domestic economy.

Oil prices ended with full-year losses for the first time since 2015, after a desultory fourth quarter that saw buyers flee the market over growing worries about a supply glut and mixed signals related to renewed US sanctions on Iran.

The US stock market concluded its worst year since the global financial crisis on Monday following a late-season collapse that also raised doubts about the prospects for 2019.

India's central bank on Monday said the proportion of commercial lenders' non-performing assets (NPAs) may fall slightly to 10.3 percent by March, thanks to measures including the creation of a bankruptcy code.

US companies have sent home over half a trillion dollars of cash they held overseas in 2018 to take advantage of tax changes, but data suggest the pace is slowing, potentially removing a key source of support for Wall Street.

The sale of new cars in France increased nearly three percent last year, but the market for diesels was markedly down, the French automakers' association (CCFA) said Tuesday. A total of 2,173,481 private cars were first registered last year, in line with automakers' expectations.

Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will be spending the beginning of 2019 behind bars after a Tokyo court on Monday extended his detention through to January 11.

India has cut import taxes on crude and refined palm oil from Southeast Asian (Asean) countries after a request from suppliers, a government notification said.

India's finance ministry has exempted rupee payments made to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for crude oil imports from a steep withholding tax, according to a government order reviewed by Reuters.

Netflix Inc is expected to announce in the next few days that it has poached media finance veteran Spencer Neumann from Activision Blizzard to be its chief financial officer, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

US President Donald Trump is considering an executive order in the new year to declare a national emergency that would bar US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by China's Huawei and ZTE, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Trade negotiators from China and the United States are planning to meet in January for talks, Beijing said Thursday, but stopped short of confirming the exact date or location.

Apple Inc will begin assembling its top-end iPhones in India through the local unit of Foxconn as early as 2019, the first time the Taiwanese contract manufacturer will have made the product in the country, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Vietnam's growth soared to more than 7 percent this year, its highest in a decade, helped by a surge in its manufacturing sector.

Traditional traders and local players rejoiced Thursday at new e-commerce rules imposed by the Indian government on global giants such as Amazon and Walmart which analysts said could force them to rethink their Indian operations.

Hyundai Motor Co plans to start producing electric vehicles (EVs) in Indonesia as part of an around $880 million auto investment in the country, Industry Deputy Minister Harjanto said on Thursday.

Real wages in Germany rose by 1.5 percent in the third quarter, the strongest increase in two years, indicating that household spending continued to support growth in Europe's biggest economy in the second half of the year.

Japan's central bank Thursday maintained its ultra-loose monetary easing policy and said it was not looking for an exit strategy, even as the US central bank hikes interest rates.

Weaker economic growth and tepid price pressures in Asia will leave central banks in the region with few reasons to tighten policy next year — especially as US rate hikes slow — unless a new bout of currency weakness forces them to do so.

Indian drug authorities visited some of Johnson & Johnson's facilities on Wednesday and took “tests and samples” of its talcum powder, the company said in a statement.