Spain's 12-month inflation slows down to 6.8% in November

(Reuters) - Spain's consumer prices in the 12-month period to November rose 6.8%, a slower pace than the 7.3% over the 12 months to October, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) showed on Tuesday.

The reading was the lowest since January and below the 7.4% forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile fresh food and energy prices, was 6.3% year-on-year, slightly higher than the 6.2% recorded in October, the INE data showed.

Spain's European Union-harmonised 12-month inflation was 6.6%, down from 7.3% in October and below the 7.5% expectation from analysts polled by Reuters.

(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk,e diting by Inti Landauro)