TOKYO, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Japan's core consumer prices increased 0.9 percent in November from a year earlier, the government said in a report on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the core consumer price index, excluding fresh food prices due to their volatility, increased for the 11th consecutive month, rising from 0.8 percent logged a month earlier.

The index, however, still remained a long way below the Bank of Japan's (BOJ) 2 percent inflation target.

An increase in gasoline and utility prices were largely behind the rise in core CPI, the statistics bureau said, while intimating that among only mediocre wage increases, households still remain reluctant to spend, hence companies are reluctant to raise their prices.

Excluding energy and fresh foods, "core-core" consumer prices rose just 0.3 percent from the previous year, the bureau said.

As for CPI for Tokyo's 23 wards, which is released a month before nationwide data and seen as a gauge of wider price moves, was up 0.8 percent in December from a year earlier.

The CPI is a measure estimating the average price of consumer goods and services purchased by households.

A consumer price index measures a price change for a constant market basket of goods and services from one period to the next within the same area, city, region, or nation.

The index is determined by measuring the price of a standard group of goods meant to represent the typical "market basket" of a typical urban consumer.

The percent change in the CPI is a measure estimating inflation.