Japan's core consumer inflation quickened to 2.8% in August, hitting its fastest annual pace in nearly eight years and exceeding the central bank's 2% target for a fifth straight month as price pressure from raw materials and yen weakness broadened.

Oil prices were little changed on Tuesday, after rising in the previous session, on concerns that interest rate hikes in the United States to tame inflation will curb economic growth and fuel demand in the world's biggest crude consumer.

The dollar remained firm below a two-decade high versus major peers on Tuesday, as investors braced for the Federal Reserve to continue its aggressive interest-rate-hiking campaign to rein in overheated inflation.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. consumers' near-term inflation expectations fell to a one-year low in September and the outlook over the next five years also improved, easing fears that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates by a full percentage point next week.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China is expected to keep lending benchmarks unchanged this week, a poll of market participants showed, with authorities seen holding off monetary easing in the short-term to avoid more depreciation pressure on the currency.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p) no longer sees chip shortages ending in 2023, and the German carmaker is preparing for the "new normal" of supply chain disruptions, Murat Aksel, head of procurement on the Volkswagen board, told German weekly Automobilwoche.