The Brazilian real slipped on Tuesday as a Supreme Court decision to oust the Senate's president raised concerns over potential delays in the approval of austerity measures to curb the country's massive fiscal deficit. Justice Marco Aurelio de Mello removed Senator Renan Calheiros based on a majority ruling by the nation's top court last month that any person indicted for a crime could not be in the presidential line of succession. The court had indicted him last week on charges of embezzlement.
The real weakened 0.4 percent, the worst-performing currency in Latin America. The Mexican peso strengthened 0.8 percent to a two-week high after the country auctioned eight out of 10 deep water oil and gas blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, raising expectations of capital inflows.
Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index, however, was higher on the day, supported by a rally in shares of JBS SA, the world's biggest beef exporter. Shares jumped 14 percent, their biggest daily gain in seven months, after JBS announced it would take its international businesses public in an initial public offering in the United States.