Norway's April core inflation rate eases less than expected

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's annual core inflation rate eased in April, but the move was smaller than expected, Statistics Norway data showed on Friday.

Core inflation, which strips out changing energy prices and taxes, stood at 4.4% year on year, down from 4.5% in March but exceeding the 4.3% average forecast of analysts polled by Reuters.

Norway's currency, the crown, strengthened to 11.68 against the euro by 0606 GMT, from 11.70 ahead of the data release.

The Norwegian central bank's own projection for April core inflation stood at 4.5%.

Norges Bank last week kept interest rates on hold at a 16-year high and said a tight monetary policy stance may be needed for somewhat longer than planned earlier in order to curb prices.

The central bank had previously said it could start cutting rates in September. It will release new projections in June.

Headline inflation, which includes changes in energy costs and tax, eased in April to 3.6%. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the year-on-year rate to drop to 3.5% from 3.9% in March.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Anna Ringstrom)