Reuters reports that Bank of Japan data showed that Japan's wholesale prices fell at a slower pace in February for a third straight month, offering an encouraging sign a recent rebound in fuel costs and pick-up in domestic demand will ease deflationary pressures across the economy.

The 0.7% year-on-year drop in the corporate goods price index (CGPI), which measures the price companies charge each other for their goods and services, follows a 1.5% annual decrease in January.

Oil prices fell 6.3% in February from a year earlier, a much smaller drop than a 14.4% decline in January, reflecting global rises in commodity and fuel costs, the data showed.

Steel and wood goods also rose last month thanks to a gradual recovery in domestic demand. Domestic final goods prices, which loosely track the consumer price index, were off 0.1% from a year earlier, a much smaller pace of decline than a 0.8% drop in January.