China's consumer inflation grows 5.5 % in Oct.

China's consumer prices grew 5.5 percent on-year in October, government data showed Wednesday, suggesting inflation in the world's No. 2 economy may have peaked. The growth rate of the country's consumer price index was down from 6.1 percent in September, according to the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. It was first time in five months that the figure fell below the 6 percent mark. Food prices rose 11.9 percent on-year in October, compared to 13.4 percent in the previous month. Meanwhile, China's producer price index, a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, rose 5 percent on-year last month, lower than a 6.5 percent increase last month. Many market watchers surmised that China's inflationary pressures have started to ease significantly from October as the country's financial tightening took effect. To curb the country's persistent inflation, the central People's Bank of China has raised the benchmark interest rate three times this year, while increasing the amount of money banks must keep in reserve a total of six times. China is not expected to relax its monetary policy this year as the inflation rate for the whole of 2011 is expected to be higher than 5 percent. "The moderate cooling of mainland (China's) inflation continues, leaving room for Beijing to push on with selectively easing. But until CPI inflation drops below 4 percent, we think a U-turn in monetary policy or cross-board easing unlikely," said Qu Hongbin, chief China economist at HSBC.