Japan's core consumer prices drop 0.2%

TOKYO - Japan's core consumer prices slipped 0.2 percent year-on-year in June, marking the second straight month of fall, the government said Friday.  

The key consumer price index (CPI) stood at 99.6 against the 2010 base of 100 in the recording month, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The reading, which excluded volatile fresh food prices, was worse than market forecasts, which projected the index to stay put.

In July, the core CPI for the 23 wards in Tokyo fell 0.6 percent from the same month a year earlier, indicating a continuing downward trend for the nation that has been fighting a chronic deflation.