The annualized Eurozone Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) came in softer at 6.9% in March vs. February’s 8.5%, the latest data published by Eurostat showed on Friday. The market expected the inflation gauge to drop to 7.1% in the reported period.

The core HICP steadied at 5.7% YoY in March when compared to 5.7% expected and 5.6% recorded in the February clip.

On a monthly basis, the old continent’s HICP unexpectedly rose by 0.9% in March vs. 0.8% expectations and 0.8% previous. The core HICP arrived at 1.2% last month as against the 0.6% expected and 0.8% seen in February.

The Euro area inflation data is released a day after Germany’s annual HICP for March, which rose by 7.8%, beating 7.5% estimates while following a 9.3% advance seen in February.

Note that the European Central Bank’s (ECB) inflation target is 2%.

Investors closely scrutinize the bloc’s HICP figures to evaluate the ECB rate hike expectations. Markets are now pricing an 88% probability of a 25 basis points (bps) ECB rate increase in May.

Key details (via Eurostat)

“Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco is expected to have the highest annual rate in March (15.4%, compared with 15.0% in February), followed by non-energy industrial goods (6.6%, compared with 6.8% in February), services (5.0%, compared with 4.8% in February) and energy (-0.9%, compared with 13.7% in February).”

EUR/USD reaction

The shared currency is unperturbed by the mixed Eurozone inflation data, as EUR/USD keeps its range near daily lows of 1.0872. The spot is down 0.22% on the day.