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The national consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 per cent year on year last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday.

The reading beat market expectations after a poll by financial provider Wind forecast a 0.04 per cent drop. In September, the CPI was down 0.3 per cent year on year.

Premier Li Qiang has called for more efforts to unleash potential consumption by removing restrictions on spending and accelerating the development of new growth drivers such as service industries and new forms of consumption at a meeting of the State Council, China’s cabinet, in August.

“CPI inflation rose in October. It is a surprise to the market,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management in Hong Kong, noting that “it is too early to conclude the deflation is over”.