TOKYO (Dow Jones)–Japan’s domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses skidded 27.3% on the year in November, declining for the fourth straight month, an industry body said Monday.

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SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)–Asian share markets were mostly lower Monday despite Friday’s rise on Wall Street, with some profit-taking on recent gains and a fair amount of caution before the week’s heavy slate of central bank meetings and economic data.

The daily central parity rate for the yuan versus the U.S. dollar is the weighted average of prices given by market makers. The highest and lowest offers are excluded from the calculation.

SYDNEY (Dow Jones)–Australian company gross operating profits rose 5.2% to a seasonally adjusted A$60.96 billion in the third quarter of 2008 from the previous quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

CANBERRA (Dow Jones)–The value of inventories, or stocks, held by Australian companies rose 0.7% to a seasonally adjusted A$122.45 billion in the third quarter of 2008 from the previous quarter, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Monday.

LONDON (Dow Jones)–U.K. house prices fell again in November, with the year-on-year decline the largest on record, a survey by Hometrack showed Monday.

BUDAPEST (Dow Jones)–Hungarian economic sentiment fell to another record low in November, after hitting an all-time low in October, as business sentiment dived to unseen levels on a darkening outlook, domestic think tank GKI said Monday.

TOKYO (Dow Jones)–Here are the major economic events scheduled in Japan on Monday. All times refer to GMT.

MOSCOW (AFP)–Russia’s economic development ministry significantly downgraded next year’s growth forecast, but denied falling oil prices would spark an economic crisis, Ria Novosti news agency reported Sunday.