US consumer prices barely gained in December, causing the government's main inflation indicator to end 1998 with its smallest annual rise in 12 years, the Labour Department said yesterday.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.1 per cent last month after a 0.2 per cent rise in the previous month. That brought the increase for the year to just 1.6 per cent - the weakest since a 1.1 per cent rise in 1986 when the CPI was held down by plummeting energy prices.