Investing.com - Consumer price inflation (CPI) in the U.K. remained unchanged in February at a level corresponding to more than a 1-year high in February, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the rate of consumer price inflation rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.3% last month, below forecasts for an increase of 0.4% and unchanged from 0.3% in January.
The ONS noted that the contributions to change in the CPI rate from the detailed categories were relatively small compared with most months, while the largest downward contribution came from the transport sector, from price changes for items such as road passenger transport, second-hand cars and bicycles.
Month-over-month, consumer price inflation edged up 0.2% in February, below forecasts for an advance of 0.4% and following a decline of 0.8% in the prior month.
Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will now have to write an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, as inflation is more than a percentage point below the central bank's target of 2.0%.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs rose at a seasonally adjusted rate of 1.2% last month, in line with forecasts and unchanged from January.
The retail price index increased 1.3% in February, in line with expectations for it to remain stable with January’s reading of 1.3%.
The data also showed that the house price index rose 7.9% in January, above forecasts for a gain of 6.9% and following a 6.7% increase in December.
GBP/USD fell to 1.4293 from around 1.4287 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7838 from 0.7842 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mostly lower after several explosions occurred in Brussels’ airport and subway station. London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.30%, the Euro Stoxx 50 lost 0.42%, France's CAC 40 traded down 0.35%, while Germany's DAX shed 0.56%.