Philippine Aug inflation ticks down to 0.1 pct yr/yr

* Annual inflation at 0.1 pct in August

* August annual inflation slightly below market estimates

* Central bank seen keeping its policy rates unchanged

MANILA, Sept 4 - The Philippine statistics office released the August consumer price index on Friday:

KEY DATA*

Consumer price index:

Change in pct Aug July June May April March

Headline (yr/yr) 0.1 0.2 1.5 3.3 4.8 6.4

Core (yr/yr) 2.9 3.6 3.9 4.4 5.0 5.6

Headline (mth/mth) 0.2 0.3 0.6 -0.1 0.5 0.1

* Note: The base year is 2000. Core consumer prices strip out some food and fuel items.

KEY POINTS

* Analysts expected the August inflation rate to come in at 0.2 percent while the central bank said the rate was likely to range from -0.3 percent to 0.6 percent.

* Central bank governor Amando Tetancgo has said he expects inflation to pick up in coming months but the annual average rate would fall within this year's target of 2.5 to 4.5 percent and next year's 3.5 to 5.5.

* Tetangco said on Tuesday the central bank's monetary policy would continue to support economic expansion and any possible shift will be done gradually.

* Analysts expect the central bank to keep the key overnight borrowing rate at a record low of 4 percent for the rest of the year.

LINKS

-- Reuters inflation poll....[ID:nMAN450034]

-- NSO Website: .....http://www.census.gov.ph