Eurozone Inflation At 5-Month High

(RTTNews) - Eurozone inflation rose to the highest level in five months in December largely reflecting higher services cost, preliminary data from Eurostat showed on Tuesday.

The harmonized index of consumer prices climbed 2.4 percent from a year ago, following a 2.2 percent gain in November. The pace of growth matched economists' expectations.

Excluding prices of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, core inflation held steady at 2.7 percent in December and also came in line with forecast.

On a monthly basis, the HICP moved up 0.4 percent in December, data showed. Looking at the main components of the HICP, services registered the highest annual rate of 4.0 percent. This follows November's 3.9 percent rise.

Food, alcohol and tobacco prices showed a stable growth of 2.7 percent. Meanwhile, energy prices edged up 0.1 percent, reversing a 2.0 percent drop in November.

The increase in non-energy industrial goods prices eased marginally to 0.5 percent from 0.6 percent in the prior month.