SEOUL, May 2 Reuters South Korea39;s consumer inflation eased for a third consecutive month to a 14month low in April and the central bank expects the downward trend to persist for some time, supporting the market39;s view that its policy tightening cycle is over.

The consumer price index CPI stood 3.7 higher in April than a year earlier, the Statistics Korea data showed on Tuesday, marking the slowest growth since February last year and following a 4.2 increase in March.

It roughly matched a 3.75 rise tipped in a Reuters survey.

The Bank of Korea BOK issued a broadly dovish statement, although it repeated that uncertainty remained high over the future path of inflation.

The consumer price growth will show a clearly slowing trend through the middle of this year, while the core price growth will show a trend of easing at a slower pace than the headline inflation, it said.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile foods and energy items, held steady for a third consecutive month at 4.0 in April on an annual basis.

Analysts said the central bank39;s dovish comments supported their expectations that it would cut or consider cutting interest rates later this year.

We expect the inflation to fall below 3 in the third quarter and the Bank of Korea to consider cutting rates soon thereafter, said Kim Myoungsil, fixedincome analyst at HI Investment Securities.

The BOK has an official annual inflation target of around 2.

The central bank held interest rates steady at the…