Proactive Investors - The UK inflation print for February beat expectations, with the year-on-year rate coming to 3.4% while analysts were expecting 3.5%.
It marks the lowest rate of inflation seen in the UK for 30 months.
“Food prices were the main driver of the fall, with prices almost unchanged this year compared with a large rise last year, while restaurant and café price rises also slowed,” said Office of National Statistics chief economist Grant Fitzner.
“These falls were only partially offset by price rises at the pump and a further increase in rental costs.”
Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, was 4.5% in February, also besting expectations of 4.6%.
Stocks to open flat
The FTSE 100 is set to open flat at 7,740 after closing 15 points higher on Tuesday after the February inflation imprint came in slightly softer than expected.
Year-on-year inflation came to 3.4% in January, beating the 3.5% forecast and down from 4% in the previous two months.
It marks the lowest rate since September 2021. Core inflation fell from 5.1% to 4.5%.
With an interest rate decision coming up on Thursday, this result could influence the Bank of England's interest rate decision tomorrow.
On the company news front, Investec will provide a trading update this morning, while Computacenter (LON:CCC) and Prudential (LON:PRU) have their finals out shortly.
In the US, the Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates at 5.5% when it convenes this evening.
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