Japan prices rise for second straight month in February: govt

Japanese consumer prices picked up in February for the second straight month boosted by a rebound in energy prices, official data showed on Friday, as Tokyo aims to end years of deflation.

Nationwide consumer prices, excluding volatile costs of fresh food, rose 0.2 percent from a year earlier, the internal affairs ministry said, with the result matching the market consensus.

The latest data comes after so-called "core" inflation rose 0.1 percent in January, halting a long string of declines.

The increase is good news for the world's number three economy, but separate data Friday showed household spending remained weak, falling 3.8 percent year-on-year to decline for the 12th consecutive month.

The market had expected a 2.1 percent decline.

Meanwhile, factory output picked up 2.0 percent, against market expectations of a 1.0 percent rise, the ministry of economy, trade and industry said.

Japan's economy contracted in the last three months of 2015, before bouncing back last year although the recovery has been wobbly.

That is putting Japanese officials under increasing pressure as more economists write off Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to cement a lasting recovery, dubbed Abenomics.

The plan -- a mix of aggressive monetary easing and huge government spending along with reforms to the economy -- stoked a stock market rally and fattened corporate profits, but the effect on the wider economy has been less dramatic.

While Japan's job market is tight, individual spending -- which accounts for more than half of the country's GDP -- has remained in the deep freeze.

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is aiming for two percent inflation and now expects to reach that goal by March 2019 -- four years later than planned.