Eurozone inflation rose to 2.8 percent in April, the highest level for 30 months, from 2.7 percent in March, European Union data showed on Monday.

Inflation in the 17-nation area is at its highest since October 2008 when it hit 3.2 percent, according to the Eurostat data agency.
In April 2010, the rate was 1.6 percent.
April 2011 was the fifth month running in which inflation was above the two-percent target limit set by the European Central Bank.
Inflation in the 17-nation eurozone rose above that ceiling for the first time since late 2008 in December, hitting 2.2 percent, before rising to 2.3 percent in January and 2.4 percent in February.
--------------- Ready to preserve integrity of euro: ECB’s Noyer
The European Central Bank stands ready to ensure price stability and preserve the integrity of the euro, European Central Bank governing council member Christian Noyer said on Monday.
He said the success of existing programmes to support some European Union member countries remains to be demonstrated,
Noyer told a seminar in Tokyo he could not immediately assess the positive impact of structural reforms required for financial support.
-------------------- Australia home-loan approvals drop to 10-year low
Australian home-loan approvals unexpectedly dropped in March to the lowest in more than 10 years as higher interest rates kept homebuyers on the sidelines and the central bank said the economy may have contracted.
The number of loans granted to owner-occupiers to build or buy houses and apartments dropped 1.5 percent to 44,968 in March, from a revised 4.7 percent decline the previous month, the statistics bureau said in Sydney on Monday. That compares with the median estimate for approvals to rise 2 percent in a Bloomberg News survey of 20 economists, and was the lowest since February 2001, according to government data.