Japan core inflation rate falls in July

Japan's core inflation rate fell to 3.1% in July from 3.3% in the previous month, in line with expectations.

The headline rate for July came in at 3.3%, unchanged from June.

Official data also revealed that the “core-core” inflation measure, which strips out volatile items such as fresh food and energy and used by the Bank of Japan in its monetary policy considerations, came in at 4.2%, down from 4.3% in June.

The BoJ is the only central bank keeping rates in negative territory as it persists with an ultra-loose monetary policy.

Economists at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the BoJ will "probably look through the stickiness of non-energy inflation in July".

"Inflation is cooling more slowly than the bank had anticipated, but we believe the policy-setting committee will retain its view that inflation is generally cost-push, driven mainly by the carry-over effect from higher import costs, thanks to the weak yen earlier. Domestic demand is likely to remain fairly muted, despite the pick-up in services inflation, underscored by real wage falling for the 15th consecutive month in June."

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com