According to data released on Thursday, wholesale inflation in Japan continued to rise year-on-year in July, reflecting the widening range of price pressure and strengthening the market's expectations for the September rate hike. According to Bank of Japan data, the producer price index rose 7.2% year on year in July, and the increase was 7.3% after the June revision; the market expected a 7.4% increase. Earlier, the Bank of Japan released increasingly hawkish policy signals, including announcing a summary of opinions from the July meeting. Some policymakers called for a faster pace of interest rate hikes to deal with the risk of inflation. This data was released in this context. The data shows that on a month-on-month basis, the index rose slightly by 0.1% in July and rose 0.5% month-on-month after revision in June. The yen-denominated import price index rose 29.1% year on year in July and rose sharply by 30.1% after the June revision, indicating that the weakening yen is driving up import costs, which in turn raises the overall level of inflation. The Bank of Japan kept its policy unchanged last month, but warned for the first time that core inflation may exceed the target, and said that subsequent discussions will focus on the risk of rising prices, releasing a signal that interest rates may be raised as early as September.

According to data released on Thursday, wholesale inflation in Japan continued to rise year-on-year in July, reflecting the widening range of price pressure and strengthening the market's expectations for the September rate hike. According to Bank of Japan data, the producer price index rose 7.2% year on year in July, and the increase was 7.3% after the June revision; the market expected a 7.4% increase. Earlier, the Bank of Japan released increasingly hawkish policy signals, including announcing a summary of opinions from the July meeting. Some policymakers called for a faster pace of interest rate hikes to deal with the risk of inflation. This data was released in this context. The data shows that on a month-on-month basis, the index rose slightly by 0.1% in July and rose 0.5% month-on-month after revision in June. The yen-denominated import price index rose 29.1% year on year in July and rose sharply by 30.1% after the June revision, indicating that the weakening yen is driving up import costs, which in turn raises the overall level of inflation. The Bank of Japan kept its policy unchanged last month, but warned for the first time that core inflation may exceed the target, and said that subsequent discussions will focus on the risk of rising prices, releasing a signal that interest rates may be raised as early as September.