Investing.com - British annual inflation rose unexpectedly held steady in July, according to official data released on Tuesday, while retail price inflation rose at a faster rate than expected.
Consumer prices rose 2.6% compared with a year earlier, the Office for National Statistics said, slightly below economists' expectations for a 2.7% annual rise.
Excluding oil prices and other volatile components such as food, core consumer price inflation rose by 2.4% from a year earlier, compared with economists' expectations for 2.5%.
Falling motor fuel prices were offset by higher prices for clothes, utilities and food, the ONS said.
House prices rose 4.9% in June, said the ONS, compared to 5% in May. It was the slowest increase since March.
Retail price inflation rose by an annualized 3.6% in July, up from 3.5% in the previous month. Economists had expected an unchanged reading.
Output prices rose 3.2% in July, while prices paid by factories for materials and energy rose by 6.5%.