* Euro advances on Greek parliament vote relief * Uncertainties remain ahead of euro zone finance ministers' meet * Some worry hedge funds could obstruct bond swap deals * Yen dips briefly on BOJ hopes, weak GDP By Anirban Nag LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The euro rose on Monday on relief that Greece's parliament approved an austerity bill that put it a step closer to securing much-needed bailout funds, though investors were sceptical about the strength of the euro's gains with more hurdles left to be cleared. The bill was passed on the back of widespread civil unrest in the country and should allow Greece's international lenders to release the 130-billion euro rescue loan, preventing a chaotic default on the country's debt and keeping the euro zone intact. Euro zone finance ministers still expect Greece to explain how 325 million euros ($430 million) of this year's total budget cuts -- as yet unspecified -- will be achieved before it agrees to the bailout in a meeting on Wednesday. This could keep the recovery of the euro in check. "A Greek agreement for austerity was always going to be short term positive for the euro," said Paul Robson, currency strategist at RBS. "We will see a fair degree of two-way price movement in the euro until Wednesday when the finance ministers' meet and we have to see whether what Greece has agreed to is sufficient enough for its creditors." The euro gained 0.8 percent to $1.3275, recouping some of the losses made on Friday and not far from a two-month high of $1.3322 hit last week. Traders said talks to get private creditors to agree to write down the value of their Greek holdings would now gather attention. Uncertainty still looms large over whether the necessary near 100 percent acceptance can be achieved without triggering a credit default. In the meantime, concerns are mounting that hedge funds may have built up sufficiently large holdings of Greek bonds to scupper "voluntary" bond swap deals. Near-term resistance for the euro is seen around the level of last week's high and at the 100-day moving average of $1.3325 with sovereign and option-related sellers seen ahead of $1.3300. RBS's Robson expected the euro to trade in a $1.33-1.35 range in the near term and gains over that would appear overstretched on his short-term valuation model. PATIENCE RUNNING THIN Patience is running thin among a number of creditor nations with the Greek government's constant dithering on implementing required tough reforms . Highlighting exasperation felt by Germany, the country's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said in an interview with German newspaper Welt am Sonntag that Greek promises on austerity measures are no longer good enough because so many vows have been broken. Still, Greece voting to stay in the euro has provided a short term relief to investors. Fear of a major banking crisis has also subsided as the European Central Bank is offering to provide an unlimited amount of three-year loans for the second time later this month after the first operation in December. This has prompted institutional investors to cut bearish bets since January, said Kimihiko Tomita, head of forex at State Street in Tokyo. "If you think there will be no Armageddon, there is no need to take new euro short positions now. But on the other hand, it's questionable whether investors will become so positive about the euro as to become net long," Tomita said. U.S. data showed speculators have been cutting their net euro short positions for the past two weeks with their net euro short position falling to 140,593 contracts last week from a record 171,347 contracts two weeks before. Amid improved sentiment for risk assets after Greece's vote, the Australian dollar gained 1 percent to $1.0769, though it was off a two-month high of $1.0845 marked last week. The New Zealand dollar rose 1.3 percent to $0.8363. The yen eased briefly on speculation of more easing by the Bank of Japan and a weaker-than-expected reading in Japan's GDP. The dollar was flat at 77.65 yen, just below a two-week high of 77.81 yen hit on Friday. Traders expect offers from Japanese exporters will keep the dollar in its well-worn range of 76-78.50 yen. The BOJ starts a two-day policy meeting on Monday and is widely expected to make its vague commitment to an inflation target clearer while steering clear of increasing its asset purchases for now. (Additional reporting by Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo; Editing by)

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