Mubasher: The costs of the US imports saw another increase in March, supported once again by higher fuel prices, data showed on Friday.

The price index for the country’s imports went up 0.6% last March, after a 1% gain in February, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.

The cost of fuel imports such as oil and natural gas jumped 6.4% last month, after surging 9.7% in February and 4.4% in January.

On an annualised basis, the gauge for import costs did not see any change in March.

Over the three months ended last March, US import prices climbed 1.7%, recording the biggest quarterly rise seen since the three-month period between October 2017 and January 2018.

Excluding fuel import prices, the importing costs declined 0.2% stable during March.
Recording the second monthly gain, US export costs rose 0.7% last March, pushed up once again by higher prices for both non-farm and agricultural exports.

By 12:39 pm GMT, the EUR/USD pair rose 0.55% to $1.1315.