South Korea inflation cools more than expected as rate cut talk grows

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea's consumer inflation cooled more than forecast in September and below the central bank's target for the first time since early 2021, amid growing expectations of an imminent policy easing.

The consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6% in September from a year earlier, after a rise of 1.9% in August, data from Statistics Korea showed on Wednesday.

It was weaker than a median 1.9% increase tipped in a Reuters poll of economists and marked the weakest annual increase since February 2021.

The reading was below the Bank of Korea's (BOK) medium-term target of 2% and comes amid growing talk among policymakers and market participants about an imminent interest rate cut with the next policy meeting scheduled for Oct. 11.

The BOK at its last meeting in August held interest rates at a 16-year high of 3.50% despite slowing inflation and domestic demand, as board members were concerned about financial stability risks stemming from a hot housing market.

CPI rose 0.1% on a monthly basis, also slower than gains of 0.4% the previous month and 0.3% expected by economists. Prices of petroleum products fell 4.1% and private services declined 0.4%, offsetting gains in agricultural products and public utilities.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy items, rose 2.0% year-on-year, slower than the 2.1% rise the previous month and the weakest since November 2021.

(Reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Tom Hogue and Sam Holmes)