TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's core consumer prices likely fell for a third straight month in October while household spending likely rose only moderately, a Reuters poll showed on Friday, suggesting a slow recovery from recession.
The core consumer price index (CPI), which includes oil products but excludes volatile fresh food prices, probably fell 0.1 percent in October from a year ago, a poll of 19 analysts showed.
"Consumer prices may have hit the bottom in October and they are expected to stay around zero or above as effects from falls on oil prices wane," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.
"On the other hand, the weak yen's effects will also likely fall off, so import costs on raw materials and price rise in some products will likely stabilise."
The poll also showed household spending rose 0.1 percent in October from a year earlier after a 0.4 percent decline in September partly helped by autumn clothing sales.
"Private spending is not so bad but not good either...the pace of recovery in consumer spending is slow as wage recovery is sluggish as a whole," said Takumi Tsunoda, senior economist at Shinkin Central Bank Research Institute.
The jobs-to-applicants ratio was probably at 1.24 in October, unchanged from last month and remaining at its highest reading since January 1992 when the ratio was 1.25.
The jobless rate was likely steady at 3.4 percent last month, according to the poll.
The internal affairs ministry will announce core CPI, jobless rate and household spending at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 27 (2330 GMT Nov. 26).
The BOJ on Thursday kept its monetary stimulus programme unchanged with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda holding fast to his view that the corporate capital spending vital to growth - suggesting that no new monetary easing is imminent.
Japan slipped into a technical recession in July-September, spotlighting how the government's "Abenomics" policies have struggled to drag the economy out of chronic stagnation.
