BEIJING - China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation, grew 1.7 percent year-on-year in October, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday.

The inflation eased from 1.9 percent registered in September and was below market expectations of 1.8 percent.

On a month-on-month basis, October's CPI fell 0.1 percent from the previous month, according to a statement posted on the NBS's website.

Food prices, which account for nearly one-third of the weighting in the calculation of China's CPI, rose 1.8 percent last month from one year earlier, which was down from the 2.5-percent increase in September.