Euro area CPI picks up in June, as expected

Consumer price inflation in the euro area rose slightly last month despite dips in the bloc's second and third-largest economies, France and Italy.

According to Eurostat, the year-on-year rate of increase in headline consumer prices picked up from 0.1% for May to 0.3% in June, as expected by economists.

At the core level meanwhile, which excludes both food and energy, the annual rate of change in CPI was 0.8%, down drom the 0.9% clip seen during the previous month.

Among the Eurozone's largest economies, in Germany inflation accelerated from 0.5% to 0.8% while deflation in Spain eased from -0.9% to -0.3%.

However, in France inflationary pressures dipped from 0.4% to 0.2% while in Italy deflation worsened from -0.3% to -0.4%.

In terms of monthly rates of change, both headline and core CPI were up by 0.3%.