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May 31 Reuters Eurozone shares hit session lows on Tuesday after data showed inflation rose to a record high in May, spurring bets of bigger interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank ECB.

Inflation in the 19 countries sharing the euro accelerated to 8.1 in May from 7.4 in April, beating expectations for 7.7 as price growth continued to broaden, indicating that it is no longer just energy pulling up the headline figure. 

The STOXX index of eurozone shares dropped 0.9 and the panEuropean STOXX 600 index, which was flat before the data, fell 0.6.

The euro region39;s banks, which typically welcome signs of rising interest rates, slid 1 as investors worried about the hit to the economy from surging prices.

We see that the high energy inflation is rapidly translating into companies pricing through higher input costs to their consumers as well … it39;s clearly a sign of broadening inflation, said Bert Colijn, senior economist, eurozone at ING.

This is resulting in market expectations of perhaps ECB acting more quickly, Colijn said, but added that ING still expects the central bank to hike rates by 25 basis points in July and September.

Investors will closely watch for any change in the ECB39;s stance after its meeting next week. The central bank has so far signalled that it will begin its…