JAPAN PRICES CLIMBED AT FASTEST PACE SINCE 1982

Japan’s consumer prices have climbed at the fastest pace in 32 years, boosted by higher utility charges and a sales-tax increase that contributed to the biggest slide in household spending since the March 2011 earthquake. Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.4 per cent in May from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said Friday in Tokyo, matching the median projection in a Bloomberg News survey of 30 economists.