Consumer prices in Japan fall in October

Tokyo: The Japanese internal affairs ministry said on Friday that the country's consumer prices fell 0.1 percent in October from a year earlier, down for the third straight month.

The core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, fell to 103.5 against the 2010 base of 100, Xinhua news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

However, the Japanese central bank, Bank of Japan, is trying to reach a two-percent inflation target without effects brought by sales tax hike last year, so as to improve prolonged deflation here.