The Norwegian krone climbed today, reaching the highest level for the year against the euro. The reason for the sharp rise was the better-than-expected inflation print released during the trading session.
Statistics Norway reported that the Consumer Price Index rose 2.9% in March from the same month a year ago. The core CPI rose 2.7%, beating the average forecast of 2.5%. Month-over-month, the CPI rose 0.2%, while the core CPI rose 0.3%.
The positive inflation data led to speculations that central bank of Norway may perform additional interest rate hikes this year. That makes the Norges Bank one of the few central banks of developed nations that maintain hawkish, not dovish, bias.
The Producer Price Index rose 5.2% in March, year-on-year, while excluding energy goods the index rose 2.8%. Month-over-month, the index performed far worse, falling 2.1%. Excluding energy goods, which fell by 4.2%, the index edged up 0.2%.
USD/NOK dropped from 8.5517 to 8.5048 as of 12:24 GMT today. EUR/NOK declined from 9.6199 to 9.5911, retreating from the daily high of 9.6467, touching the lowest level since December.
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