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Turkish inflation came in higher than expected in August, at nearly 33% annually and more than 2% on a monthly basis, readings that are likely to slow the central bank's plans to cut interest rates as it also weighs stronger economic growth.Annual consumer price inflation stood at 32.95% last month, official data showed on Wednesday, above a Reuters poll estimate of 32.6%. It was up 2.04% on a monthly basis.In further evidence that consumer demand remains strong despite the effects of prolonged monetary tightening, separate data on Monday had shown that Turkiye's economy grew by 4.8% in the second quarter, above expectations.The data flurry comes at a jittery time for investors in Turkiye. A court on Tuesday ousted the Istanbul provincial head of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), dealing a fresh judicial blow to opponents of President Tayyip Erdogan and triggering sharp falls in Turkish share and bond markets.According to a poll conducted in July, economists had expected the central bank to cut its policy rate to 36% by year-end, or some 700 basis points from the current 43%. However the latest inflation and GDP data could cause it to slow the pace of the easing, analysts said."Looking ahead to the central bank's September 11 meeting, we expect the market's current consensus for a 300bps rate cut to moderate towards 200-250bps," Oyak Securities said in a note to clients on Wednesday.In July, the central bank cut the policy rate by 300 basis points, relaunching an easing cycle paused in March, and it promised to use all policy tools in the event of a significant and persistent deterioration in inflation."After Wednesday's GDP growth data and today's inflation data, the probability of the central bank cutting rates by 300 basis points in September has become very low," Hakan Kara, a former central bank chief economist now on the faculty at Bilkent University in Ankara, said on X.The monthly inflation reading for August of 2.04% was affected by higher food, education, and housing prices, as well as the continued impact of a mid-year update of taxes on tobacco and fuel items.In July, CPI inflation stood at 33.52% on an annual basis, while the monthly reading was 2.06%.In the Reuters poll, the monthly inflation rate for August had been expected to come in at 1.8%.The domestic producer price index rose 2.48% month-on-month in August for an annual rise of 25.16%, the data showed.Inflation is seen slowing to 30% at the end of this year according to the poll median, higher than the central bank forecast range of 25%-29%.

European stocks edged lower on Friday as investors awaited key eurozone indicators and a US inflation report for signals on the timing of potential US interest rate cuts.The pan-european stock index slipped 0.2% to 552.41 points, putting it on track for its first weekly loss in a month.Markets broadly expect the US Federal Reserve to begin cutting rates in September, with traders closely monitoring upcoming economic data for confirmation of that outlook.

Market EyeAhead of the US key inflation data in the US, the Qatar Stock Exchange listed, like other major Gulf bourses, saw severe selling pressure, leading to a 112-point plunge in its index and about QR7bn in capitalisation.The foreign institutions were seen increasingly net profit takers as the 20-stock Qatar Index shed 0.99% to 11,226.84 points, although it touched an intraday high of 11,367 points.The industrials, insurance and banking counters witnessed higher than average selling pressure in the main market, whose year-to-date gains truncated further to 6.2%.The Gulf institutions turned bearish in the main bourse, whose capitalisation eroded QR6.93bn or 1.02 to QR670.75bn, mainly on large and small cap segments.The domestic institutions’ substantially weakened net buying had its influence on the main market, which saw as many as 2,966 exchange traded funds (sponsored by AlRayan Bank and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.02mn trade across eight deals.However, the local retail investors were seen net buyers in the main bourse, whose trade turnover and volumes were on the increase.The Islamic index was seen declining slower than the other indices of the main market, which saw no trading of treasury bills.The Arab individual investors turned bullish in the main bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.The Total Return Index shed 0.99% and the All Share Index by 1.06% and the All Islamic Index by 0.59% in the main market.The industrials sector index tanked 1.61%, insurance (1.26%), banks and financial services (1.25%), transport (0.27%) and consumer goods and services (0.24%); while telecom gained 0.25% and real estate 0.12%.About 71% of the traded constituents were in the red with major losers in the main market being Meeza, Industries Qatar, QNB, Qatar Insurance, Qatar Electricity and Water, Qatar Islamic Bank, Doha Bank, AlRayan Bank, Gulf International Services, QLM, Nakilat and Gulf Warehousing.Nevertheless, Ezdan, Medicare Group, Milaha, Vodafone Qatar, Inma Holding and Mazaya Qatar were among the gainers in the main bourse.In the venture market, Techno Q saw its shares appreciate in value.The foreign institutions’ net profit booking increased drastically to QR50.95mn compared to QR31.06mn the previous day.The Gulf institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR1.6mn against net buyers of QR8.3mn on August 27.The domestic institutions’ net buying decreased substantially to QR18.76mn compared to QR31.4mn on Wednesday.The foreign individual investors’ net buying eased marginally to QR1.18mn against QR1.86mn the previous day.However, the Qatar individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR29.75mn compared with net sellers of QR6.35mn on August 27.The Arab retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR2.7mn against net sellers of QR3.38mn on Wednesday.The Gulf individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR0.18mn compared with net sellers of QR0.59mn the previous day.The Arab institutions had no major net exposure against net profit takers to the tune of QR0.18mn on August 27.The main market saw a 2% jump in trade volumes to 143.38mn shares, 4% in value to QR359.1mn and 5% in deals to 18,014.In the venture market, a total of 1.63mn equities valued at QR4.55mn changed hands across 275 transactions.