An index measuring corporate service prices in Japan was down 0.4 percent on year in April, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday, standing at 96.1.
That missed forecasts for a decline of 0.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month.
On a monthly basis, corporate service prices were down 0.3 percent after rising 0.7 percent in March.
Among the individual components, prices were up for advertising and transportation. They were down for real estate and flat for other services.
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