Transportation inflation sharply eased to just 0.2%

Thanks to the big drag by private transport.

According to Maybank Kim Eng, transportation moderated sharply to just +0.2% YoY (July 2013: +1.7% YoY).

The biggest drag came from the Private Road Transport sub-component (Aug 2013: +0.1% YoY; July 2013: +2.0% YoY) which was affected by the bigger declines in COE premiums (Aug 2013: -17.9% YoY; July 2013: -6.3% YoY) following the high base from a year earlier.

Here's more from Maybank Kim Eng:

Separately, domestic fuel pump prices remained subdued (Aug 2013: +4.6% YoY; July 2013: +10.2% YoY) in tandem with the global crude oil price trend.

Crude oil price have eased this month as the threat of a US attack on Syria dissipated i.e. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude price fell from a one month’s high of USD110/bbl to about USD 104/bbl currently.