U.S. dollar falls on downbeat data

The U.S. dollar slumped against other major currencies on Tuesday as economic data from the country came out worse than expected.

The Non-Manufacturing Index, which measures activity in the U.S. service sector, registered 51.4 percent in August, 4.1 percentage points lower than the July reading and missing market consensus of 55.0, the Institute for Supply Management said in its monthly survey Tuesday.

Meanwhile, investors were still digesting the recent nonfarm payroll report.

U.S. total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 151,000 in August, below market consensus of 175,000, and the unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent, the Labor Department said Friday.

Analysts said the closely-watched nonfarm payrolls have greatly dented market expectation for an interest-rate hike as early as September.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, was down 1.08 percent at 94.810 in late trading on Tuesday.

In late New York trading, the euro rose to 1.1261 dollars from 1.1161 dollars of the previous session, and the British pound increased to 1.3434 dollars from 1.3296 dollars. The Australian dollar climbed to 0.7682 dollars from 0.7566 dollars.

The dollar bought 101.96 Japanese yen, lower than 103.98 yen in the previous session. The dollar dropped to 0.9696 Swiss francs from 0.9804 Swiss francs, and it inched down to 1.2834 Canadian dollars from 1.2999 Canadian dollars. Enditem