Japan prices rise for third straight month

Japan's core consumer prices rose 0.5 per cent year-on-year in November, the third monthly increase after two modest hikes of 0.1 per cent driven partly by higher fuel prices, government data showed Friday.

The advances follow 18 months of declines or stagnation during the depths of the pandemic, and Friday's reading beat economist expectations of a 0.4 per cent rise.

The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices but includes fuel costs, was up 0.5 per cent in November, after edging up 0.1 per cent on-year in both October and September.

Excluding fuel costs, however, prices were down 0.6 per cent from a year earlier, according to the figures from the internal affairs ministry.

While many countries are battling higher inflation, Japan is still struggling to even approach its long-held two percent target, seen as key to turbo-charging the world's third-largest economy.