Mubasher: US prices growth cooled markedly in March, missing analysts’ forecasts and marking the first decrease since May 2017, while annual inflation hit a year high.

The consumer price index fell by a monthly rate of 0.1% last month, driven by a temporary decline in gasoline prices, and compared with a 0.2% rise in February, data by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) showed on Wednesday.

Economists, polled by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) had expected prices to remain steady during March.

On an annual basis, however, the CPI rose 2.4% in March, marking the strongest annual gain since March 2017, and compared with a 2.2% growth in the previous month.

Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes the volatile categories like food and energy, increased by 0.2% month-on-month and 2.1% year-on-year.

By 07:04 am GMT, the EUR/USD pair climbed by around 0.14% to $1.2373.