UK producer prices fall slightly more than expected in January

Factory gate inflation fell in January by slightly more than markets had been expecting.

The UK's producer price index slipped by 0.1% month-on-month and by 1.0% in comparison to a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Analysts had penciled in a drop of 0.2% versus December and a 0.9% decrease versus a year ago.

In December, the producer price index fell by 1.4% year-on-year, more than the preliminary estimate from ONS for a decline of 1.2%.

So-called 'core' output prices, which strip out the most volatile components, were unchanged year-on-year in January, after a fall of 0.1% in the year to December to 2015.