German inflation falls to 4.5%; UK home sellers increase discounts; mortgage rates ease – as it happened

The bull and bear sculptures outside the Deutsche Boerse AG in Frankfurt. Photograph: Armando Babani/AFP/Getty Images

3.40pm BST

Afternoon summary

Time for a quick recap::

UK house sellers are cutting asking prices to persuade buyers to reach a deal, a report from Zoopla shows.

Mortgage holders are making big changes to their finances to cope with dramatically higher monthly payments, such as cutting pension contributions and downsizing to a smaller property.

But there is some relief, with the average five-year fixed mortgage rate falling below 6% today for the first time since early July.

Inflation in Germany has eased to its lowest since the Ukraine war began, with consumer prices up 4.5% in the last year.

Spanish inflation has risen, though, lifted by higher energy costs.

In the markets, the European Stoxx 600 has hit its lowest level in six months today, while bond prices have also weakened.

Here’s the rest of today’s stories:

Updated at 3.46pm BST

3.28pm BST

Italian government bond prices are also weakening, pushing the gap between Italy and Germany’s bond yields wider:

#Italy #spread klakson: we're back at 200bps on the 10yr.
Progressive withdrawal of ECB support and worse than expected deficit dynamics start to have an effect on cost of debt.
Move not quick and "brutal" enough to imagine the use of ECB's TPI anytime soon. pic.twitter.com/ip5SAVpXwi

— Gustavo Baratta (@gusbaratta) September 28, 2023

The FT attributes the move to the Italian government raising its fiscal deficit targets and cutting its growth forecast for this year and next, meaning higher budget deficits than expected.