Consumer price inflation in the euro zone was flat in April after four straight months of declines, prompting hopes that the region's massive stimulus program was taking effect, official preliminary data showed on Thursday.
In a report, Eurostat said consumer price inflation was flat this month, compared to expectations for a decline of 0.1% and following a drop of 0.1% in March.
The rate has now been below 1% for 18 straight months, well under the European Central Bank's target of near but just under 2%.
Core CPI, which excludes food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco costs rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in April, in line with forecasts and unchanged from March.
Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, services (0.9%, compared with 1.0% in March) and food, alcohol & tobacco (0.9%, compared with 0.6% in March) are expected to have the highest annual rates in April, followed by non-energy industrial goods (0.1%, compared with 0.0% in March) and energy (-5.8%, compared with -6.0% in March).
EUR/USD was trading at 1.1214 from around 1.1209 ahead of the release of the data, while EUR/GBP was at 0.7255 from 0.7254 earlier.
Meanwhile, European stock markets were mostly higher. Germany's DAX tacked on 0.25%, the EURO STOXX 50 rose 0.2%, France’s CAC 40 declined 0.1%, while London’s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1%.
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