Eurozone inflation, jobless figures steady

The official EU statistics agency Eurostat said eurozone consumer prices rose 0.2 per cent in August, the same rate as in July.

Eurozone unemployment meanwhile was unchanged at 10.1 per cent in July.

Analysts surveyed by financial services company Factset had expected inflation at 0.3 per cent and unemployment at 10.0 per cent .

Inflation is a key indicator as it reflects underlying consumer demand in the economy and the figures have been well off the ECB’s target of around 2.0 per cent for several years.

Recent data has been mixed, with Britain’s shock June vote to quit the European Union hitting sentiment as feared but not to the disastrous extent some had warned of.

On Tuesday, the European Commission said its Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for the 19-nation eurozone dropped one full point to 103.5 in August.

Last week, however, the data monitoring company Markit said the eurozone economy continued to prove resilient, with companies still ready to invest in their business.