The euro strengthened against the dollar as Greek lawmakers started voting on package of austerity measures aimed at averting the currency region’s first sovereign default. The 17-nation currency pared its gains from the strongest level in two weeks versus the dollar as Greek socialist lawmaker Panangiotis Kouroublis voted against the government’s package of budget cuts and state asset sales, in a roll call vote televised live on state-run Vouli TV. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou worked to secure passage even as protests raged and workers took to the streets in a general strike. The greenback fell versus all but the Swiss franc among its 16 major peers amid rising stocks and commodities. Canada’s dollar rallied as consumer prices increased more than forecast. “The market is anticipating a favorable outcome for Greece today and is trying to look past that,” said Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York. “There is a reasonable chance for buy the rumor, sell the fact, on the austerity vote today because tomorrow’s vote on technical measures may be more contentious.” The euro strengthened 0.4 percent to $1.4428 as of 8:58 a.m. in New York, after gaining as much as 0.5 percent to the strongest since June 15. The shared currency rose 0.2 percent to 116.83 yen, while the dollar was little changed against the Japanese currency at 81.01 yen. To contact the reporter on this story: Allison Bennett in New York at abennett23@bloomberg.net; Lucy Meakin in London at lmeakin1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dave Liedtka at dliedtka@bloomberg.net

Source