1st LD Writethru: Japan's consumer prices up 0.1 pct. in December, household spending drops for 4th straight month

Japan's consumer prices increased 0.1 percent in December 2015 from a year earlier, marking the second consecutive monthly rise, the government said on Friday.

The core consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food prices, stood at 103.3 against the 2010 base of 100, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a report.

On an annual bases, consumer prices increased 0.5 percent in 2015 to 103.2 from a year earlier, the data showed, marking the third successive year of price increases, owing, in part, to a consumption tax hike in April 2014.

The consumer price index (CPI), not factoring in the effects of the consumption tax increase, was flat in the recording year, the statistics bureau said.

The inflation rate remaining below the key 2 percent target of the Bank of Japan may see the central bank's policy makers who are convening Friday, opt to further ease the bank's monetary policy to keep its reflation goals tangible, local analysts said, particularly amid a slowdown in growth of some emerging economies and as oil prices remain exceedingly volatile.

To this point, energy prices in December retreated 11 percent, the government said, with those for gasoline plummeting 17.8 percent and electricity prices down 5.7 percent, in the recording period.

Food prices, however, climbed 2.3 percent in the recording period, and prices of TVs also marked a significant increase, jumping 22.4 percent, according to the latest data set.

Separately, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Friday that expenditure for households with two or more people fell for a fourth straight month to 318,254 yen (2,679 U.S. dollars) in December, down 4.2 percent in nominal terms and 4.4 percent in real terms, from the previous year.

The average monthly income per salaried household stood at 900,229 yen, the ministry said, retreating 2.7 percent in nominal terms and 2.9 percent in real terms, also marking the fourth straight monthly decline, the government said.

Spending per household, meanwhile, stood at 340,474 yen in the recording month, down 4.8 percent in nominal terms and 5.0 percent in real terms from the previous year, the ministry said.

The government closely watches the monthly household expenditure figures as private consumption accounts for around 60 percent of Japan's gross domestic product. Enditem