South Korea's consumer inflation for February hit its slowest pace in 10 months, bolstering views that the central bank is done with its current policy tightening cycle after it held rates steady last month.
The consumer price index rose 4.8% in February from a year before, Statistics Korea data showed on Monday, easing from January's 5.2%.
It was below the 5.1% tipped in a Reuters poll, and was also the lowest rate since April 2022.
"It was encouraging that the rising pace of private service prices slowed, lowering the possibility of additional rate hikes by the central bank, at least on the domestic side," said Ahn Jae-kyun, a fixed-income analyst at Shinhan Securities.
Annual core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, inched down to 4.0%, from 4.1% a month before, and hit the lowest since August, suggesting easing underlying price pressure.