FX round-up: US dollar sent reeling on all major crosses

Data revealing weakness in the US services sector sent the US dollar sharply lower on all its major crosses.

A weak reading on the US ISM´s service sector purchasing manager´s index for the month of August saw the pound jump 1% versus the greenback to 1.3434 and the single currency gain 0.98% to 1.1257.

Japan´s yen was stronger too, with USD/JPY sliding 1.31% to 102.07.

The ISM services index fell to 51.4 in August - a six-year low - from a reading of 55.5 in the month before, missing expectations for a reading of 55.0. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The US dollar spot index was left nursing losses of 1.01% as a result, trading at 94.872 as of 1855 BST.

Linked to all of the above, Morgan Stanley cautioned clients on Tuesday that the risk of the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan surprising negatively was greater than that of the Federal Reserve doing so.

"We are below-consensus on US and EU growth, and believe China slows in 2H," the bank´s strategists said in a research note dated 5 September.

Morgan Stanley also expected the yuan to trade lower.

South Africa´s rand was a top performer on Tuesday, with the grenback surrendering 2.59% of its value against that nation´s currency to trade at 14.0135.

Gross domestic product in Africa´s most advanced economy expanded at an annualised clip of 3.3% in the second quarter of the year (consensus: 2.3%).

Against the ruble the dollar lost 0.76% to 64.45 and versus Brazil´s real 2.29% to 3.2083.