The annual rate of consumer price inflation in Brazil accelerated to 2.54 percent last month, suggesting the recent spell of slow inflation may be coming to an end, Reuters reports.

The news agency says the market had forecast an annual rate of 2.47 percent.

Data collected by the Brazilian statistics agency indicate that the acceleration was due mainly to rises in fuel prices, Reuters says.

The statistics agency itself says consumer prices rose by 1.78 percent in the first nine months of this year.

Economists polled by the Brazilian central bank forecast, on average, consumer price inflation of 2.97 percent this year.