London — British inflation unexpectedly rose to a six-month high in January, pushed up by higher petrol prices and a smaller-than-usual drop in airfares, official data showed on Wednesday.

The pound briefly strengthened by as much as a quarter of a cent against the dollar after the figures, which showed consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 1.8% compared with 1.3% in December, not far off the Bank of England’s (BOE) 2% target. Economists had forecast a rate of 1.6%...

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