The real traded as low as 4.5010 per dollar, down more than 1% on the day and bringing its losses in the first two months of the year to more than 10% to cement its status as one of the world's worst-performing currencies against the dollar.

By mid-session in Brazil on Thursday, it had clawed back some ground to trade at 4.4750 reais per dollar.

Three-month dollar/real implied volatility rose on Thursday to 10.7%, its highest in almost three months but still some way below the 14% in August last year that prompted the central bank's first spot market dollar sales in over a decade.

Copyright Reuters, 2020