CORE inflation in Japan’s capital matched the central bank’s 2 per cent target in September, data showed, a sign the economy is making progress in meeting the criteria for further interest rate hikes.
While political and overseas economic uncertainties may prod the Bank of Japan to stand pat in October, the solid inflation reading will keep alive market expectations for another rate hike in December or early next year, analysts say.
The Tokyo core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food costs, rose 2.0 per cent in September from the previous year, data showed on Friday, matching the BOJ’s target and the median market forecast.
It slowed from a 2.4 per cent increase in August due largely to the resumption of government subsidies to curb utility bills. Tokyo CPI data is considered a leading indicator of nationwide prices.
A separate index that strips away the effects of both fresh food and fuel costs, closely watched by the BOJ as a broader price trend indicator, increased 1.6 per cent in September from a year earlier after rising at the same pace in August.
Service prices rose 1.2 per cent in September after a 1.3 per cent gain in August, suggesting that companies were passing on labour costs from rising wages as the BOJ projects.
The BOJ ended negative interest rates in March and raised its short-term policy rate to 0.25 per cent in July on the view Japan was making steady progress towards durably achieving its 2 per cent inflation target.
BOJ governor Kazuo Ueda has said the bank will keep raising rates if inflation remains on track to stably hit 2 per cent as it projects, though he stressed the bank will spend time gauging how global economic uncertainties affect Japan’s fragile recovery.
Japan’s economy expanded an annualised 2.9 per cent in the second quarter as steady wage hikes underpinned consumer spending. Capital expenditure continues to grow, though soft demand in China and slowing US growth cloud the outlook for the export-reliant country. REUTERS
