TOKYO—Japan’s core consumer inflation slowed in February but an index stripping away energy costs hit a four-decade high, data showed on Friday, suggesting cost-push pressures may persist longer than policymakers thought.
With inflation still exceeding the Bank of Japan’s 2 percent target, the data will keep alive market expectations of a tweak to its bond yield control policy under incoming governor Kazuo Ueda, analysts say.
The core consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile fresh food but includes oil products, rose 3.1 percent in February from a year earlier, matching a median market forecast and slowing sharply from a 41-year high of 4.2 percent seen in January….