ZURICH: The Swiss franc drifted lower against the dollar on Tuesday as the greenback gained some ground on data showing the pace of growth in the US services sector accelerated in July with new orders at their highest in five months. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its services index rose to 56 from 52.2 in June, easily topping economists' expectations for 53 and supporting views the Federal Reserve could trim its bond-buying programme earlier than expected. The franc was softer against the euro, trading above the 1.23 per euro mark ahead of German data on industrial orders, due at 1000 GMT, and Swiss National Bank data on foreign currency reserves to be released on Wednesday. The SNB, which capped the franc at 1.20 per euro in September 2011 to stave off a recession and deflation, has had little reason to intervene in markets to defend that level of late, the latest data on its Swiss franc sight deposits show. "The data are a clear confirmation of an inactive SNB in terms of monetary operations nearly three quarters through 2013," said UBS economist Reto Huenerwadel in a note. Swiss data due later in the week are expected to show inflation remains weak, with consumer prices for July seen flat year on year and 0.4 percent lower on the month. The franc fell 0.2 percent against the dollar compared to the New York close to trade at 0.9294 francs per dollar by 0653 GMT. The franc fell 0.2 percent against the euro to 1.2316 per euro.

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