Japan's September Corporate Services Prices Rise 3.7 Percent Year on Year, Up From a Revised 3.5 Percent in August
Japan's services producer price index rose 3.7 percent in September from a year earlier, data from the Bank of Japan showed on Tuesday, October 27, a sign of mounting price pressures that will likely keep the central bank on track for further interest rate hikes, Reuters reported. The year-on-year rise in the index, which tracks the prices companies charge each other for services, followed a revised 3.5 percent gain in August.
The data is closely watched by the Bank of Japan for clues on the extent to which companies are passing on rising labour costs to service-related prices. The BOJ is set to keep interest rates steady at 1.25 percent at a two-day meeting concluding on Friday, but to signal its readiness to continue raising borrowing costs as price pressures build.
On currency markets, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama told parliament on Tuesday that the government stood ready to take decisive action in the currency market. 'We are always watching market moves, including now, with a high sense of urgency,' Katayama said, when asked about the impact the administration's fiscal policy could have on the yen and long-term interest rate moves.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 位于东京的日本银行总部（资料图）。Wiiii 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo (file photo). Photo by Wiiii, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
