Canada's annual inflation rate inched down to 6.9% in September, the third consecutive monthly deceleration, as lower prices at the gas pump offset another 41-year high in food costs, Statistics Canada data showed on Wednesday.
The headline inflation number was a notch ahead of analyst forecasts of 6.8% but down from 7.0% in August. Excluding food and energy, prices rose 5.4% from a rise of 5.3% in August.
All three of the Bank of Canada's core measures of inflation, its preferred yardsticks for underlying price pressures, were flat in September, with the average of the three measures matching August's upwardly revised 5.3%.
Money market bets on a 75-basis-point hike at the central bank's Oct. 26 decision increased after the inflation data, with the policy rate seen peaking between 4.25% and 4.50% early next year. It now stands at 3.25%.
On the month, Canada's consumer price index rose 0.1%, slightly ahead of forecasts that it would remain flat.
The Canadian dollar was trading 0.2% lower at 1.3760 to the greenback, or 72.67 U.S. cents.
Source: Reuters
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