Japan's core consumer price index for July fell 0.5 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Friday.

The result compared with the median forecast of a 0.4 percent decline among 19 economic research institutes surveyed by Jiji Press.

The core CPI, which excludes often volatile fresh food prices, stood at 99.6 against 100 for the base year of 2015. Month on month, the index was down 0.2 percent.

For Tokyo's densely populated 23 wards, the core CPI for August stood at 99.7, down 0.4 percent from a year before.

Source : WAM