Stocks were up in most markets in Asia, as well as other regions on Thursday buoyed by positive economic data from US and around the world.

Equities fell in most Asian markets and currencies were hit Wednesday, after the dollar firmed on sticky US inflation data, which cemented fears of more rate hikes by the Fed

Tokyo believes several Chinese balloons have flown over Japan in recent years but warned it is now looking at allowing weapons to be used to gun down such 'unacceptable' intrusions

Japan increased its defence budget for the upcoming financial year in response to heightened regional tensions with China, Nikkei said

Most Asian markets edged up on Tuesday ahead of US inflation data, following the lead of Wall Street.

The Nikkei and the Topix in Japan finished lower on Monday, while stocks in China rose marginally, but fell in other areas. The dollar extended gains before US CPI and retail data

Kazuo Ueda, a 71-year-old former BOJ board member, is the 'surprise' nominee to be Japan's next central bank governor. He is expected to spur a prompt change in BOJ interest rate policy

Both carmakers gained from a plunge in the yen in October last year, even as a shortage of chips and soaring costs of raw materials squeezed global carmakers

"The United States is being strict, but there is a question of whether we have to exactly match that," said former economy minister Akira Amari.

A shortage of chips is preventing Subaru and other automakers from ramping up production following the loss of business from Covid

US senators have sought information on a Facebook investigation that found tens of thousands of software developers in China and Russia accessed detailed user data in 2014, CNN said

Nintendo, SoftBank Group and Sharp all suffered steep stock falls on Wednesday after investors were disappointed at their latest results