TOKYO: Core consumer inflation in Japan's capital Tokyo, considered a leading indicator of nationwide trends, hit 2.3% in November, slowing from the previous month in a sign of easing cost-push pressure in the world's third-largest economy.
The data will be among factors scrutinised by the Bank of Japan (BOJ) when it meets for a two-day policy meeting concluding on Dec. 19.
The year-on-year rise in the Tokyo core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes fuel costs, compared with a median market forecast for a 2.4% gain and followed a 2.7% increase in October.
The so-called "core core" index that strips away both fresh food and fuel prices - closely watched by the BOJ as a gauge of broader price trends - rose 3.6% in November from a year earlier after a 3.8% gain in October, government data showed on Tuesday.
The BOJ remains a dovish outlier among global peers, having maintained ultra-loose policy even as major central banks elsewhere raised interest rates aggressively to fight rampant inflation.
With inflation having exceeded the BOJ's 2% inflation target for more than a year, many market players expect the bank to phase out its massive stimulus some time next year with some betting on a shift as early as in January. - Reuters
