Asian markets fall as Chinese property stocks plunge

A sea of red for Asian stocks this morning, as China's industrial profits continued to shrink in November, albeit at their slowest pace in almost a year. Property stocks are leading declines as it was reported over the weekend that Beijing police were investigating Chinese shadow bank Zhongzhi Enterprise Group. The world's second-largest economy will release its official factory activity figures for November on Thursday. Meanwhile, Japan's service inflation surged to a 45-month high.