Japan core CPI falls 0.1 pct year/year in November

TOKYO, Dec 28 (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer prices fell 0.1 percent in November from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, in a sign of the persistent deflation that Japan's new prime minister has pledged to conquer with aggressive fiscal and monetary policy.

The fall in the core consumer price index, which includes oil products but excludes volatile prices of fresh fruit, vegetables and seafood, matched economists' median forecast. It followed a flat reading in the previous month, according to the data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

The so-called core-core inflation index, which excludes food and energy prices and is similar to the core index used in the United States, fell 0.5 percent in November from a year earlier, after a 0.5 percent decline in the year to October.

Core consumer prices in Tokyo, available a month before the nationwide data, fell 0.6 percent in December from a year earlier. That followed a 0.5 percent drop in October, and was slightly bigger than a market forecast for a 0.5 percent decline.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Chris Gallagher)