Although analysts had expected UK inflation to hold steady in October, the U.K. Office for National Statistics in its today's report said the rate of consumer price inflation rose to a seasonally adjusted 1.3% last month from 1.2% in September.
The main contributors to the rise appeared to be prices for transport costs, notably
motor fuels and air fares.
Rising prices for some recreational goods in the run up to Christmas
also contributed to the rise.
Core CPI, which excludes food,
energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs rose at a seasonally adjusted rate of
1.5% last month, unchanged from September. Analysts had expected core
prices to rise 1.6% in October.
The retail price index increased 2.3% in October, meeting expectations and unchanged from in September.
It was also shown that the house prices index climbed 12.1% in September, meeting forecast and up from 11.7% in August.
At the same time, European stock markets remained broadly higher. London’s FTSE 100 tacked on 0.3%, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 picked up 0.65%, France's CAC 40 advanced 0.45%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.75%.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.5668 from around 1.5652 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7981 from 0.7988 earlier.
