Singapore headline consumer prices showed no rise in January

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore reported no consumer inflation in January, for the first time since late 2016, due to lower accommodation and private road transportation costs, data showed on Friday.

The city-state's all-items consumer price index did not rise in January from a year earlier. Economists polled by Reuters had expected it would increase 0.4 percent, the same pace as in December.

Accommodation costs in January fell 5.3 percent from the year earlier, after declining 3.8 percent in December.

Private road transport costs grew slower in January at 1.6 percent from the year earlier, after rising 2.6 percent in December.

Singapore's core inflation gauge in January, however, rose 1.4 percent from a year earlier, as expected by the Reuters poll. In December, it rose 1.3 percent.

The central bank's core inflation measure excludes changes in the price of cars and accommodation, which are influenced more by government policies.

(Reporting by Fathin Ungku; Editing by Sunil Nair)