The 12-month rise in the general level of consumer prices slowed to 3% in April, Statistics Canada reported Thursday. StatsCan said a drop in gasoline prices was the main cause of the slowdown from 4.3% in March.

The 12-month change in the Consumer Price Index excluding energy also fell, from a 3.2% rise in March to a 2.7% increase in April.

Gasoline prices were only 4.1% above April 2002 levels, compared with a 22.1% rise from March 2002 to March 2003. Other factors including refunds received by Ontario consumers, which brought the electricity index to a level 11.0% lower than in April 2002, and fuel oil prices also contributed to weakening the rise in the CPI.

After correcting for seasonal influences a comparison of all items included in the CPI fell 0.7% in April, after increasing 0.1% in March. The transportation index registered the largest drop of –1.9%, thanks largely to lower gasoline prices. Shelter is –0.8% cheaper, as is clothing and footwear (-0.5%), recreation, education and reading (-0.2%), household operations and furnishings (-0.1%) and food (-0.1%) also contributed to the monthly decrease. The alcoholic beverages and tobacco products index (+0.5%) and the health and personal care index (+0.2%) partly offset the increases.

The Canadian dollar is trading at US73.63¢, down 0.39 of a cent, following the CPI release.

Meanwhile south of the boarder, U.S. initial jobless claims rose for the first time in a month last week as tornadoes swept through the Midwest and disrupted businesses in their path.

Initial jobless claims rose by a surprisingly sharp 7,000 to 428,000 in the week ended Saturday, the Labor Department said.

Wall Street futures trading and overseas markets indicate modestly positive opening Thursday. Overseas, the FTSE 100 index is up 27.1 points at 3,963.5 in early afternoon trading in London. Frankfurt and Paris are flat.

Japan’s Nikkei average gained 33.15 points to 8,051.66 overnight, while the Hong Kong Hang Seng index rose 71.69 points to 9,131.49. Analysts say the gains are spurred by the U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s moderately optimistic assessment of the American economy on Wednesday.