Asia markets reverse earlier gains as traders assess key China data and look ahead to central bank decisions due this week

This is CNBC's live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.

Asia-Pacific markets were mostly down on Monday, reversing earlier gains with investors looking to several major central bank decisions due this week including the Bank of Japan and the People's Bank of China.

The Federal Reserve's decision on Dec. 18 stateside will also be top of mind for investors, with the CME Fedwatch tool forecasting a 96% chance of a 25-basis-points cut.

The BOJ is likely to hold rates when it releases its decision on Thursday, while the PBOC will announce its loan prime rates on Friday. The one-year LPR influences corporate loans and most household loans in China, while the five-year LPR serves as a benchmark for mortgage rates.

On Monday, traders are assessing an economic data dump out from China, including November numbers for industrial production, retail sales and home prices in the country.

In contrast, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 1%, leading losses in Asia in its final hour of trade, while mainland China's CSI 300 was down 0.54% and closed at 3,911.84.

South Korea's Kospi was down 0.22% after early gains, closing at 2,488.97. However, the small-cap Kosdaq was 0.67% higher, marking a fifth straight day of gains and ending at 698.53.

This comes after the country's parliament impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday. On Monday, the country's finance ministry reportedly said it will continue monitoring financial and foreign exchange markets in the wake of the impeachment.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was marginally down at 39.457.49, but the broad-based Topix saw a larger loss of 0.3% and fell to 2,738.33.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.56%, finishing at 8,249.5 and marking a five-day losing streak.

On Friday in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for a seventh session on Friday, losing 0.2% and posting its longest run of losses since 2020.

On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.12% and the broad-based S&P 500 ended the session little changed, closing at 6,051.09.

— CNBC's Sean Conlon and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.

Yen weakens for sixth straight day, hits three-week high ahead of Bank of Japan meeting

The Japanese yen weakened against the U.S. dollar for a sixth day in a row, hitting its lowest level in just over three weeks.

The currency weakened to a high of 153.97 against the greenback, and comes ahead of the Bank of Japan's rate decision on Dec. 19.

According to a CNBC survey, a slim majority of economists — 13 out of 24 — polled by CNBC expects the Bank of Japan to stand pat after its two-day policy meeting ends on Thursday.

Data from LSEG indicated a 78.9% probability of the BOJ holding rates, with a 21.1% possibility of a rate hike of 25 basis points.

— Lim Hui Jie

China property stocks tumble despite modest signs of easing in housing market

China property stocks slumped on Monday as official data suggested new home prices in major cities fell at a slower pace in November while real estate investment continued to decline.

New home prices fell by 0.2% month-on-month, marking the smallest monthly decline since June in 2023, according to National Statistics Bureau data released on Monday. Separate official figures showed the decline in real estate investment worsened this year through November, falling 10.4% from a year ago.

"Prices appear to be stabilizing" in the tier-1 and tier-2 cities, while "a recovery in lower tier cities will take some time and is likely to be uneven," Lynn Song, chief China economist at ING said in a note.

"Property inventories are still relatively elevated at this stage, and property developer sentiment remains cautious," Song added.

A gauge of Hong Kong-listed Chinese property developers dropped 1.6%, with the largest draggers Yuexiu Property and Longfor Group both declining over 3%. China Overseas and C&D International Group fell over 2%, while China Resources Land dropped 1.5%.

— Anniek Bao

Bitcoin pushes new highs, tops $105,000

Bitcoin hit new highs on Monday, crossing the $105,000 mark and hitting an all time high of $106,509.

The cryptocurrency has been boosted by pro-crypto comments from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, as well as news that Texas will establish a "strategic bitcoin reserve."

Trump had told CNBC's Jim Cramer that the U.S. is going to become the global leader for cryptocurrency in his upcoming term.

— Lim Hui Jie

China’s November retail sales miss expectations as real estate slump deepens

China's retail sales rose by 3% in November from a year ago, according to National Bureau of Statistics data released Monday, missing the forecast of 4.6% in a Reuters poll.

That marked a sharp slowdown from 4.8% growth in the previous month. Retail sales in October had recorded the quickest growth since February, helped by the annual Singles' Day shopping festival that kicked off more than a week earlier than the event in 2023.

The slump in real estate investment for the January to November period deepened, shrinking by 10.4% from a year ago, following a 10.3% decline reported in the January to October period.

November industrial production rose by 5.4% from a year ago, above the expectations of 5.3% growth among economists polled by Reuters, accelerating from a climb of 5.3% in the prior month.

Read the full story here.

— Anniek Bao

South Korea markets rise early Monday after President Yoon’s impeachment

South Korean markets made early gains on Monday after the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday.

South Korea's National Assembly's second attempt to impeach Yoon succeeded as 204 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion, crossing the two-thirds bar needed to impeach Yoon in the 300-seat chamber. The vote was triggered over Yoon's short-lived declaration of martial law.

The blue-chip Kospi rose early Monday morning, but pared gains later in the session. The small-cap Kosdaq was 0.73% higher. Should both indexes end today in positive territory, it will be a fifth straight day of gains for both indexes.

Read the full story here.

— Lim Hui Jie

CNBC Pro: Morgan Stanley names 7 beneficiaries of Amazon AWS’ new Trainium 2 AI chip

Morgan Stanley has identified the companies that are set to benefit from Amazon's launch of its new artificial intelligence chip.

The Big Tech giant's cloud computing division Amazon Web Services launched its Trainium 2 AI chip earlier this month. AWS hopes these chips will help it diversify away from Nvidia, its primary AI chip supplier.

The investment bank said seven Taiwanese companies are set to benefit from AWS's new Trainium 2 AI chip.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Ganesh Rao

Equities 'remain constructive' heading into year-end, Piper Sandler says

Stocks may be due for more upside in the coming weeks, according to Piper Sandler.

"As we approach mid-December, the equity markets remain constructive within their primary uptrends into year-end," said chief market technician Craig Johnson, who has a year-end S&P 500 target of 6,100. His year-end 2025 target for the broad market index is 6,600.

"Alternating tactical rotations between large caps and SMID caps appears to be a developing short-term theme within the context of the broadening process," he continued. "Use 'healthy' pullbacks that confirm support to add to positions."

— Sean Conlon

Katie Stockton sees strong finish for 2024, first-quarter correction

Technical strategist Katie Stockton is expecting a strong finish to the year before a likely correction in the first quarter of 2025.

"Intermediate term momentum is still very strongly positive and we're seeing fresh breakouts from some large-cap names," the founder and managing partner of Fairlead Strategies said on CNBC's "Money Movers" on Friday.

Those breakouts can contribute to a little upside follow-through before a corrective phase in the first quarter, she added.

"Keep eye out on sell signals. Maybe hold off on new purchases, except where you do have those breakouts or some kind of near-term catalyst to take advantage of," Stockton said. "It would be great to have some cash to put to work when we do get that first correction."

— Michelle Fox

Here’s where the stock market is headed in 2025, Wall Street’s top strategists say

Wall Street is out with its 2025 outlook, and while strategists are broadly optimistic stocks can still go higher, they are also anticipating a turbulent market in the year ahead.

The S&P 500 is expected to end next year at 6,630, according to the average forecast from the CNBC Market Strategist Survey released Friday. That level represents about a 9.6% advance from where the S&P 500 closed Thursday, in line with the historical returns of any given year for the broad market.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read the full story here.

— Sarah Min