Eurozone inflation remains steady at 1.9 pct in Nov.

Eurozone annual inflation rate remained unchanged in November after inching closer to the European Central Bank's (ECB) target of 2 percent in October.

Consumer prices in the 16-nation euro region were steady at 1.9 percent in November year-on-year, Eurostat data showed on Tuesday.

Markets had expected the annual inflation rate to remain at 1.9 percent in November compared with the previous month.

“For now at least, there are no signs at all of any pick-up in underlying price pressures in the region,” said Jennifer McKeown, an economist with Capital Economics.

There is no detailed breakdown at this stage, but given a likely rise food inflation, core inflation may well have edged down from October’s 1.1 percent to 1.0 percent, said McKeown.

Separately, the Eurostat said the euro area’s unemployment rose by 80,000 in October, the biggest monthly rise in over a year.

Unemployment rate in the eurozone increased to 10.1 percent in October from 10.0 percent in September.

“Nonetheless, the lack of any visible improvement in the euro-zone labour market as a whole casts doubt on the prospect of any meaningful and sustained pick-up in household spending across the region,” McKeown said.

“Overall, little here to persuade the ECB that it needs to start to scale back its policy support any time soon,” McKeown added.

However, the eurozone’s economic sentiment rose to three-year high in November, despite concerns over the sovereign debt crisis in some countries in the region, the European Commission said on Monday.