The real fell by 0.4% after Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber authorized an investigation of President Jair Bolsonaro over the procurement process for an Indian COVID-19 vaccine.
The median forecast for 2021 inflation from more than 100 economists in the central bank's weekly FOCUS survey jumped to 5.8% from 5.4%, more than two percentage points above the bank's year-end goal of 3.75% and well above the 5.25% upper limit of its wider range.
The Getulio Vargas Foundation's (FGV) services sector confidence index rose 6.4 points to 88.1 points in May, the second consecutive rise and the highest since the pre-pandemic levels of February last year.
"An expanded vaccination program will extend the recovery in a sector that was hit hard during the pandemic," he said.
The seasonally adjusted monthly decline of 0.6% in March was far less than the median forecast of a 7.0% decline in a Reuters poll of economists, while the year-on-year rise of 2.4% was stronger than the 1.7% fall forecast in the poll.
Some 26% of firms across the country surveyed by IBGE said the COVID-19 pandemic affected sales in March, the highest percentage since July last year.
The IPCA-15 annual price index rose to 6.17% from 5.52% the month before, almost exactly in line with the 6.25% median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. It was the highest since December 2016, IBGE figures showed.
On a monthly basis, mid-month consumer price inflation in April slowed to 0.6% from 0.93% the month before, slightly below the Reuters poll forecast of 0.68%.
A senior White House official said the administration "welcomed" Bolsonaro's commitment on deforestation and that Brazil "has a responsibility to lead" on climate issues.
The offering would combine primary and follow-on offerings, Hapvida said in Sunday's filing, adding that it would use the proceeds of the primary offering to finance current and future acquisitions.
The annual rate of consumer inflation rose to 6.10% from 5.20% in February, statistics agency IBGE said, slightly below the 6.20% median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists but the highest since December 2016.
The central bank's year-end goal is 3.75%, with a 1.5 percentage point margin of error on either side. These figures show inflation is well above even the 5.25% upper limit of that range.
The amount of outstanding loans in Brazil rose 0.7% in the month to 4 trillion reais ($693 billion) and over the last 12 months loan growth accelerated 16.1%, the central bank said.
The Fundacao Getulio Vargas's national industrial confidence index for March fell 3.7 points to a seasonally adjusted 104.2 from 107.9 in February.
The central bank on Thursday revised up its 2021 outlook for the sector in its quarterly inflation report. It now expects industrial production to grow 6.4% this year, up from 5.1% in its last report.
The 0.2% monthly fall was slightly less than the 0.3% decline forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, and the 0.3% fall compared with the same month a year earlier was slightly more than the 0.25% fall forecast in the poll.
January's figures followed a 6.2% slump in retail sales in December, the second biggest fall on record.