Investing.com - Consumer price inflation in the U.K. held at the lowest level since records began in March, 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 held steady at a seasonally adjusted 0.0% last month, in line with expectations and unchanged from February.
Month-over-month, consumer price inflation increased 0.2% in March, meeting forecasts and after rising 0.3% in February.
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 1.0% last month, down from 1.2% in February and below forecasts for a reading of 1.2%.
The retail price index increased 0.9% in March, missing expectations for a gain of 1.0% and down from 1.0% in February.
The data also showed that the house prices index rose 7.2% in February, trailing forecasts for a gain of 8.7% and down from 8.4% in January.
GBP/USD was trading at 1.4626 from around 1.4658 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7216 from 0.7204 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets remained mixed. London’s FTSE 100 tacked on 0.2%, the EURO STOXX 50 shed 0.4%, France's CAC 40 dipped 0.15%, while Germany's DAX slumped 0.25%.