LEAD: Core Tokyo CPI down for 6th straight year.

Japan Weekly Monitor, December, 2004

TOKYO, Dec. 28 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING INFO)

The key gauge of consumer prices in Tokyo dropped 0.2 percent in 2004 from the previous year for the sixth straight year of decline, due mainly to falls in prices of personal computers and durable home appliances, the government said Tuesday.

The consumer price index for Tokyo's 23 wards, excluding perishable food prices, registered 97.3 against the base of 100 for 2000, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said in a preliminary report.

The margin of decline narrowed, compared with a 0.4 percent fall in 2003 and 0.9 percent slide in 2002, but the continued decline indicates that the nation is still influenced by deflation.

Consumer prices in Tokyo are regarded as a...