Focus of Wednesday's session was on Australian GDP data. Australia's economy shrank 0.5 per cent in the September quarter, well below already pessimistic analyst forecasts and its steepest decline since the global financial crisis of late-2008. Economists were generally expecting a slight fall in gross domestic product (GDP), with the typical forecast for a -0.1 per cent quarter and economic growth of 2.2 per cent over the year.

Thursday's session was marked by Australian and China's Trade Balance figures. Australia runs a small risk of entering technical recession, according to a leading private sector economist, after worse-than-expected October data showed the trade deficit blowing out. The nation's imports exceeded exports by $1.54 billion in October, $269 million worse than the September deficit and widely missing the typical analyst forecast of a $600 million deficit.

China's November imports expanded 6.7 percent on-year, confounding expectations for a drop of 1.3 percent and the strongest gain since September 2014, data showed on Thursday. Exports rose 0.1 percent from a year earlier, defying predictions for a 5 percent slide. Demand from all of China's major trading partners improved significantly, especially Europe and the United States, though shipments to emerging economies remained weak. That left the country with a trade surplus of $44.61 billion for the month, the General Administration of Customs said, versus forecasts of $46.30 billion and October's $49.06 billion.

This week markets will be looking at:

China's Industrial Production (Tuesday 3:00)

Employment Change/Unemployment Rate (Thursday 1:30)