Japan’s wholesale prices up 1.8% in February

 Japan’s wholesale prices rose 1.8 percent in February from a year earlier for the 11th straight monthly increase, as a weakening yen increased material and fuel prices, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday.The index of corporate goods prices stood at 102.8 against the 2010 base of 100, the central bank said in a preliminary report. The pace of the year-on-year increase in February slowed from a revised 2.5 percent gain in January, due partly to diminishing effects of the yen’s depreciation and higher energy prices which have continued to push up corporate prices, a BOJ official said.