Japan's June core CPI falls 0.5% year-on-year

[TOKYO] Japan's core consumer prices fell 0.5 per cent in June from a year earlier, matching a decline last recorded in March 2013, government data showed on Friday.

The core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes fresh food prices, was lower than economists'median estimate for a 0.4 per cent annual fall.

The so-called core-core inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices and is similar to the core index used in the United States, rose 0.4 per cent in the year to June.

Core consumer prices in Tokyo, available a month before the nationwide data, fell 0.4 per cent in July from a year earlier, versus a 0.5 per cent annual fall seen by analysts in a Reuters poll.

REUTERS