BOJ Hike Odds Soar on Japan's Sizzling Wholesale Inflation

Tokyo's wholesale price gauges refused to cool in July, keeping the Bank of Japan on a September tightening path just weeks before its next policy vote.

The producer price index rose 7.2 per cent year-on-year in July, BOJ data showed on Thursday, easing only marginally from June's 7.3 per cent spike and landing just below the 7.4 per cent market forecast.

With the policy rate at one per cent and analysts pencilling a move to 1.25 per cent at the September 17-18 meeting, the data cements what the central bank's own July summary of opinions signalled: inflation risk, not growth support, now drives the conversation.