Chinese Feb CPI: 5.2% as expected (YoY)

Chinese February PPI and CPI is out.

Feb CPI

• China February CPI +5.2 pct from a year ago (Reuters poll +5.2 pct)
• China February CPI +0.8 pct from previous month (Reuters poll +0.8 pct)
• China says February food CPI +21.9 pct from a year ago; non-food CPI +0.9 pct

Feb PPI

• China February PPI -0.4 pct from a year ago (Reuters poll -0.3 pct).
• China February PPI -0.5 pct from previous month.

AUD reaction

AUD/USD was unchanged on the data as markets attention stays elsewhere with the downside of the data already priced in. 

CPI Description

The Consumer Price Index is released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. It is a measure of retail price variations within a representative basket of goods and services. The result is a comprehensive summary of the results extracted from the urban consumer price index and rural consumer price index. The purchase power of the CNY is dragged down by inflation. The CPI is a key indicator to measure inflation and changes in purchasing trends. A substantial consumer price index increase would indicate that inflation has become a destabilizing factor in the economy, potentially prompting The People’s Bank of China to tighten monetary policy and fiscal policy risk. Generally speaking, a high reading is seen as positive (or bullish) for the CNY, while a low reading is seen as negative (or Bearish) for the CNY.