Brazil's service sector hits fresh record high in September

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Services activity in Brazil grew more than expected in September and hit a record high, a sign of economic strength that comes after the central bank kicked off a monetary tightening cycle to fight inflation.

The service sector in Latin America's largest economy rose 1.0% in September from August, statistics agency IBGE said on Wednesday, above the 0.7% increase expected in a Reuters poll with economists.

Compared with a year earlier the sector rose 4.0%, while economists had forecast a median rise of 3.5%.

"In September we had several sectors that boosted the volume of services, such as engineering companies, musical festival production, pipeline transport and book publishing and printing," said IBGE survey manager Rodrigo Lobo.

Brazil's central bank accelerated its monetary tightening pace at its meeting last week, going for a 50 basis-point hike that pushed rates to 11.25%.

Strong economic activity throughout the year, a tight labor market, fiscal concerns and a weakening Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar have been pushing up inflation expectations in the country.

(Reporting by Luana Maria Benedito, Editing by Louise Heavens)