The GBP/JPY currency pair registered small gains, but continued holding just below the 183 mark for a fourth straight trading day on Wednesday, after data showed UK’s annual CPI inflation had remained steady at 6.7% in September.
The actual figure confounded market expectations pointing to a slowdown to 6.6%.
Consumer inflation still remained well above the Bank of England’s 2% inflation objective, as softer price increases in food and non-alcoholic beverages (12.1% YoY versus 13.6% in August) and furniture and household goods (3.7% YoY versus 5.1% in August) were offset by a smaller drop in cost of energy (-0.2% YoY versus -3.2%).
Month-over-month, UK consumer prices increased 0.5% in September, or at the sharpest rate since May.
Annual core CPI inflation, which excludes volatile categories such as food and energy, decelerated to 6.1% in September to mark its lowest level since January. In comparison, market consensus had pointed to a slowdown to 6%.
As of 7:04 GMT on Wednesday GBP/JPY was inching up 0.08% to trade at 182.600, after earlier touching an intraday high of 182.708. Last week, the minor Forex pair went up as high as 183.814. The latter has been the pair’s strongest level since September 15th (183.909).
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