Mubasher: The costs of the imported goods into the US unexpectedly rose in July, as recovering in the prices of petroleum products wiped out declines in prices for capital goods and motor vehicles.

The price gauge for the US imports went up by 0.2% last July, after recording a revised decline of 1.1% in June, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, analysts polled by Reuters expected import prices to post no change in the month.

On an annualised basis, the gauge for import costs fell by 1.8% last month, after dropping 2% in the prior month.

Excluding fuel import prices, the importing costs went down by 0.1% during July, for the third month in a row.

US export prices edged up by 0.2% last July, after declining by 0.6% in the previous month.

Although import prices, one of the components of the US inflation, advanced, the underlying trend remained tepid. Inflation would probably remain moderate, even as consumer prices saw an upturn.

This could build the case for the Federal Reserve to slash interest rate further to contain the damage to the economy from trade tensions.

By 1:05 pm GMT, the EUR/USD pair inched up by 0.04% to $1.1175.