Brazil April activity undershoots market expectations

BRASILIA, June 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's economic activity in April came in slightly below expectations, central bank data showed on Wednesday, as attention turns to clues on the outlook for interest rates amid renewed inflationary pressures linked to the war in Iran.

BY THE NUMBERS

* The IBC-Br index, a proxy for GDP (gross domestic product), rose a seasonally adjusted 0.5% from the previous month.

* That came below the 0.6% expansion expected by economists in a Reuters poll.

* The central bank is widely expected to deliver a third consecutive 25-basis-point rate cut, to 14.25%, on Wednesday.

* The bank is likely to adopt a more hawkish tone for its easing cycle as inflation expectations pick up for this year and beyond.

* The IBC-Br rose 1.6% in the 12 months through April on an unadjusted basis and was up 0.9% from a year earlier

* The indicator is compiled from central bank estimates for agriculture, industry and services, as well as production-related taxes

* The central bank in March forecast GDP growth this year at exactly 1.6%.

* Since then, economists have revised their forecasts upward amid inflationary pressures from the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran and domestic stimulus under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

* A weekly central bank survey now shows economists projecting GDP growth of 1.96% this year. The government projects a stronger expansion of 2.3%. (Reporting by Marcela Ayres, Editing by Louise Heavens and Tomasz Janowski)