Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in the euro zone in March remained in negative territory for the second consecutive month, underlining concerns over the threat of deflation in the region, official preliminary data showed on Thursday.
In a report, Eurostat said consumer price inflation fell by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% this month, in line with expectations and following a decline of 0.2% in February.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.0% in March, above forecasts for 0.9% and up from 0.8% a month earlier.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi rolled out fresh stimulus measures earlier in March, including increased asset buying and a deeper cut to deposit rates, in an effort to spur economic activity and boost sluggish inflation.
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1356 from around 1.1355 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7897 from 0.7892 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were broadly lower. The EURO STOXX 50 dropped 1.1%, Germany's DAX fell 0.5%, France’s CAC 40 lost 1.1%, while London’s FTSE 100 shed 0.55%.