Year-on-year, inflation eased mainly for housing (4.0 percent vs 5.3 percent in September), as a slowdown in prices for electricity (3.8 percent vs 13.7 percent) offset higher cost of gas (10.8 percent vs 7.4 percent. Meantime, inflation remained steady for food & non-alcoholic beverages (1.7 percent), restaurants & hotels (1.9 percent) and clothing & footwear (1.0 percent). In contrast, prices rose faster for transport (5.7 percent vs 5.0 percent), mainly fuels and lubricants (13.2 percent vs 12.3 percent); miscellaneous goods & services (1.1 percent vs 1.0 percent) and health (0.4 percent vs 0.1 percent).
Annual core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food and energy, went up to 1.0 percent in October from 0.8 percent in September.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices increased 0.9 percent from 0.2 percent in September, well above the preliminary estimate of 0.2 percent and matching market consensus. Main positive contributions came from cost of fruits (7.0 percent), vegetables (3.3 percent), fuels and lubricants (1.5 percent) and clothing (12.7 percent).
The harmonized index of consumer prices advanced 2.3 percent year-on-year (vs 2.3 percent in September), and by 0.7 percent from the previous month (vs 0.6 percent in September).