TOKYO -- The conflict in Iran has complicated the market's task of predicting whether the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates this spring, with rising oil prices having the potential to either accelerate or stall inflation in Japan.

HONG KONG -- Taiwanese stocks are proving more resilient than Japanese and Korean markets, even as rising tensions in the Middle East and skyrocketing crude oil prices put downward pressure on all three Asian economies.

TOKYO -- Tankers loaded with liquefied natural gas from the U.S. and elsewhere are being diverted midjourney from Europe to Asia, where spot prices have surged amid the escalating tensions in the Middle East.

BANGKOK -- Used-car dealers in Thailand are increasingly going under as debt-burdened households struggle to take out and repay auto loans, pushing down prices.

TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. in April will open a strategic branch in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to enable a more rapid, on-the-ground response as the steel industry there grapples with big changes and President Donald Trump's tariffs.

TOKYO -- Japanese foodmaker Ajinomoto is bringing products that have proven popular overseas to Japan, drawing on its international workforce to find the next big thing in the domestic market.

BENGALURU -- Pieter Elbers, chief executive of India's largest airline IndiGo, resigned on Tuesday with immediate effect, a couple of months after the company landed in the eye of the storm following widespread cancellations due to a pilot shortage.

SINGAPORE -- The war in the Middle East has hit India's stock market, sending the benchmark Sensex index lower as the country's heavy reliance on Middle Eastern oil raises concerns about a widening economic impact.

HONG KONG -- Chinese electric vehicle startup Nio has turned a quarterly profit for the first time, after a decade spent burning through billions of dollars to survive cutthroat competition in the world's largest auto market.

TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp. said Tuesday it has invested in Shine Technologies, a U.S. startup that develops applications derived from nuclear fusion, such as medical isotopes.