Japan's deflation speeds up in June; yen falls

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch)
Japan's deflation accelerated in June, as the core consumer price index fell 0.2% from a year earlier, compared to a 0.1% drop in May, according to government data Friday
The drop in core CPI, which strips out volatile fresh-food prices, outpaced a forecast 0.1% fall projected in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of economists
June's core CPI was down 0.3% from May, while overall CPI fell 0.2% year-on-year and 0.5% month-on-month
Furniture and household utensils saw the largest price drop, falling 3.4% from a year earlier, while fuel, light and water led price gains, rising 3.5% from June 2011
 More deflation makes the Bank of Japan more likely to expand its monetary easing, which would pressure the yen lower