Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in the U.K. slowed to the lowest level since records began in February, fuelling concerns over deflationary pressures, official data showed on Tuesday.
In a report, the U.K. Office for National Statistics said the rate of consumer price inflation decelerated to a seasonally adjusted 0.0% last month from 0.3% in January, compared to expectations for a 0.1% reading.
Month-over-month, consumer price inflation increased 0.3% in February, in line with expectations and after dropping 0.9% in January.
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, down from 1.4% in January and below forecasts for a reading of 1.3%.
The retail price index increased 1.0% in February, meeting expectations and down from 1.1% in January.
The data also showed that the house prices index rose 8.4% in January, below forecasts for a gain of 10.2% and down from 9.8% in December.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4933 from around 1.4947 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7355 from 0.7349 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained mixed. London’s FTSE 100 dipped 0.1%, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.1%, France's CAC 40 tacked on 0.15%, while Germany's DAX inched up 0.15%.