The euro swung between gains and losses against the dollar before Greek lawmakers vote on austerity measures needed to prevent the currency union’s first sovereign default. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called on lawmakers to obey their “patriotic conscience” as they began to debate a five-year budget plan yesterday. The shared currency snapped three days of declines yesterday amid speculation Greek creditors may agree to roll over their bonds for new debt. Sweden’s krona tumbled to a seven-month low against the euro after retail sales slumped. “I don’t imagine that we’re going to see any momentum that would take the euro out of this range, given that this vote is so crucial and so imminent,” said Jane Foley, a senior currency strategist at Rabobank International in London. “If the votes aren’t successful, it could be Armageddon day for the euro zone. Therefore there is this underlying assumption that the votes will get passed.” The euro was little changed at $1.4277 at 10:26 a.m. in London, after earlier gaining as much as 0.3 percent. The common currency weakened 0.1 percent to 115.44 yen. The dollar bought 80.84 yen, little changed from 80.89 yesterday, when it reached 80.98, the highest level since June 16. The krona depreciated by 0.7 percent to 9.2630 against the 17-nation euro, the weakest level since Nov. 29. Against the dollar, the krona traded 0.8 percent lower at 6.4900. To contact the reporter on this story: Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Tilles at dtilles@bloomberg.net.

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