Consumer price index was unchanged on a monthly basis
BoC39;s preferred core measures for October revised up
Black Friday discounts, mortgage costs helped CPI decline

OTTAWA, Dec 17 Reuters Canada39;s annual inflation rate unexpectedly dropped by a tick to 1.9 in November, driven by a broadbased slowdown in prices, while the consumer price index was unchanged on a monthly basis, data showed on Tuesday.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that inflation would hold steady at the 2 rate recorded in October and the consumer price index would rise 0.1 month over month.

The Canadian central bank39;s preferred measures of core inflation, CPImedian and CPItrim, were unchanged, though the previous month39;s data were revised up by a notch.

CPImedian or the value at the middle of the set of price changes in a month remained at 2.6, and CPItrim which excludes the most extreme price changes stayed at 2.7.

Economists noted that continued strength in core measures could be an issue for the Bank of Canada, which has said that with inflation coming down consistently, it was important for the bank to ease rates to prop up the economy.

While the Bank of Canada will welcome the renewed dip below 2 for headline inflation, they would prefer that the sticky core trends stayed away this holiday season, said Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets.

The bank has forecast core inflation to average at 2.3 for the fourth quarter but it is currently trending around…