TREASURIES-Yields largely unchanged after consumer price data

March 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields briefly fell on Wednesday after data showed that consumer price inflation rose less than expected in February, before rising back to be little changed.

The data may ease some concerns that the Federal Reserve will need to hold interest rates higher for longer to tackle stubborn price pressures. The consumer price index rose 0.2% last month after accelerating 0.5% in January, for an annual gain of 2.8% after climbing 3.0% in January. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the CPI would gain 0.3% on the month and advance 2.9% on a year-on-year basis.

Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the CPI climbed 0.2% in February after gaining 0.4% in January. In the 12 months through February, the so-called core CPI increased 3.1% after rising 3.3% in January.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes was last up 2.8 basis points on the day at 4.316%, but remained close to where it had traded before the data was released.

The yield on the 2-year note rose 3.3 basis points to 3.974%. The yield curve between two-year and 10-year notes steepened by around one basis point to 34 basis points. (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Paul Simao)