Japan wholesale inflation accelerates, keeps alive BOJ rate-hike view

TOKYO: Japan's wholesale prices rose 7.1 per cent in the year to October, data showed on Thursday, accelerating from the previous month and keeping alive market expectations of a near-term interest rate hike.

The data will be among the factors the Bank of Japan will scrutinise at its next policy meeting on December 17 and 18.

The rise in the corporate goods price index, which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, was faster than a median market forecast for a 6.5 per cent increase. It followed a 6.8 per cent increase in September.

The yen-based import price index rose 24.8 per cent in October from a year earlier, the data released by the BOJ showed, a sign that the currency's weakness continued to push up the cost of raw material imports.