Chart of the Day: Check out the rebound in food prices

But it moderated to 1.9% in October.

Maybank KimEngg said food prices continue to contribute positively to headline consumer price index. In October, food prices moderated to +1.9% YoY as compared to +2.2% growth in September. It remained unchanged on MoM basis due to smaller increase in non-cooked food and restaurant meals.

"Prices were unchanged on MoM basis as the lower price of non-cooked food items was offset by the higher cost of hawker meals. These non-cooked items include breads & cereals (Oct 2016: -0.1% MoM; Sep 2016: +1.2% MoM), fruits (Oct 2016: +0.2% MoM; Sep 2016: +1.1% MoM) and meat (Oct 2016: -0.7% MoM; Sep 2016: +1.1% MoM) while costs of hawker food and catered food edged up by +0.2% and +0.6% respectively," the firm explained.

Year-to-date, food inflation was up by +2.1%YoY, compared to 1.9% last year.

To recall, headline deflation rate eased further to -0.1% YoY in Oct 2016 while core inflation edged up to +1.1% YoY.