Investing.com – Consumer price inflation (CPI) in the euro zone eased less than expected in June, official preliminary data showed on Friday.
In a report, Eurostat said consumer price inflation rose by a seasonally adjusted 1.3% in June, above expectations for an increase of 1.2% and following a final reading of a 1.4% advance in the prior month.
According to Eurostat, and looking at the main components of euro area inflation, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in June (1.9%, compared with 4.5% in May), followed by services (1.6%, compared with 1.3% in May), food, alcohol & tobacco (1.4%, compared with 1.5% in May) and non-energy industrial goods (0.4%, compared with 0.3% in May).
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs, increased by a seasonally adjusted 1.1% in June from the same period a year ago, after a 0.9% gain in the prior month.
Analysts had expected core inflation to increase by 1.0%.
The European Central Bank’s (ECB) inflation target is officially close to, but below, 2.0% and will make its next monetary policy decision on July 20.
After the report, EUR/USD was at 1.1398 compared to 1.1404 ahead of the release, while EUR/GBP traded at 0.8782 compared to 0.8777 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were trading mixed. The Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.31%, Germany's DAX gained 0.17%, France’s CAC 40 advanced 0.44%, while London’s FTSE 100 lost 0.11%.