The Malaysian economy surprised on the upside, with the headline gross domestic product (GDP) expanding 6.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the fourth quarter of 2025, exceeding the advance estimate of 5.7%.

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed at a White House meeting on Wednesday that the US would work to reduce Iran's oil exports to China, Axios reported, citing two US officials briefed on the issue.

Japan's economy limped back to meagre growth in the fourth quarter, significantly missing market expectations in a key test for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government as cost-of-living pressures drag on confidence and domestic demand.

Oil prices traded sideways on Monday ahead of talks between Washington and Tehran, with concerns about Iran-US tensions disrupting oil flows keeping a floor under prices, while Opec+ leans in favour of resuming output hikes from April.

Malaysia’s much better-than-expected growth last quarter has prompted a flurry of analyst upgrades to their forecasts for this year, with some predicting the Southeast Asian nation will once again outperform official projections.

Thailand's economy grew faster than expected in the fourth quarter of 2025 from a year earlier, boosted by industrial and retail trade, official data showed on Monday, though the agriculture sector slowed.