Buoyed by robust gains in new work, companies hired additional workers and scaled up business activity during October.
While rates of expansion in demand and employment accelerated, output growth softened from September.
Elsewhere, there were sharper increases in input costs and output charges, while business optimism strengthened.
At 51.2 in October, the seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Brazil Services Business Activity Index signalled output growth for the fourth month running.
That said, the headline figure was down from 51.8 in September to indicate the slowest upturn in activity in the current sequence of increases.
Companies that reported expansion mentioned strengthening demand conditions.
Not only did new orders expand for the fourth straight month, but also at the fastest rate since March.
The Finance and Insurance category led the rise in sales, with declines only noted in Transport and Storage and Real Estate and Business Services.
There was a mild contribution from external markets, with new export business rising for only the second time in the year-to-date.
Anecdotal evidence pointed to higher tourism and better international demand for Brazilian services.
Sales growth encouraged hiring activity among services companies, with jobs up for the third successive month.
The rise in employment was solid and the strongest in over fourand-a-half years.
In turn, job creation assisted businesses in the completion of their outstanding work.
Backlogs were down for the fiftyfirst month in a row in October.
Despite easing to the slowest since March 2018, the pace of depletion was solid.
Another factor contributing to the upturn in payroll numbers was an improvement in business confidence.
Service providers expect the approval of public reforms, favourable economic conditions, investment, partnerships and better underlying demand to boost activity growth over the course of the coming 12 months.
Input cost inflation ticked up during October, with a number of services firms reporting higher prices for energy, fuel, oil and staff.
The increase in overall cost burdens was the most marked since May and surpassed the long-run series average.
For the sixth consecutive month, inflation was most pronounced in the Transport and Storage category.
Responding to the sharp rise in cost burdens, services companies hiked their fees again during October.
The rate of charge inflation was solid in the context of historical data, having picked up to the strongest in close to four years.
Quicker increases were evident in the Transport and Storage and Information and Communication sub-sectors. ■