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RoK stocks market's fluctuation

SEOUL: South Korea is set to broaden the stock market's price fluctuation band from 15 to 20 percent in either direction to better reflect market forces on share price changes. "The government is strongly considering expanding the band for price fluctuation from the current 15 percent to 20 percent on the Korea Stock Exchange," Deputy Finance and Economy Minister Um Nak-Yong said.ÑAFP

Japan's consumer prices fall

TOKYO: Japan's consumer prices in January declined 0.3 percent month-on-month after falling 0.3 percent in December, the government said on Friday.

On a year-on-year basis, consumer prices fell 0.9 percent, against a drop of 1.1 percent in December, the management and coordination agency said. When fluctuations in fresh food prices were excluded, January core consumer prices declined 0.6 percent month-on-month and slipped 0.3 percent year-on-year, the agency said. "We could describe the 0.3 percent fall (in core consumer prices) as being relatively small," an agency official said, referring to the year-on-year fall of core prices.ÑAFP

Russia to increase oil export duties

MOSCOW: Russian government on Thursday approved increasing the export duty on crude oil by 33 percent to 20 euros (dollars) per metric ton from 15 euros (dollars), Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko. The higher export duty won't come in force before April 15, Khristenko said, according to Russian news agencies.ÑAP