Brazil industrial confidence falls for first time since April last year -FGV

BRASILIA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Brazilian industrial confidence fell in January for the first time in nine months, a preliminary survey showed on Friday, tying in with other recent data that suggest the economic recovery is losing steam.

The Fundacao Getulio Vargas's national industrial confidence index for January fell to a seasonally adjusted 111.4 from 114.9 in December, which was its highest reading in over a decade.

As the FGV chart shows, if confirmed, January's reading would still be extremely high by historical standards.

But as the central bank noted this week, economic uncertainty is "larger than usual", especially in the first quarter, due to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the end of the government's emergency cash transfer program.

Both the current situation and three- to six-month outlooks dimmed, most notably the three- to six-month outlook, FGV said. Despite the fall in confidence, however, capacity utilization rose 0.6 percentage points to 79.9%, it added.

(Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Catherine Evans)