By: Barbara Zigah

In spite of the public protests and violence which erupted yesterday on the streets of Athens, investors appear confident that the Greek Parliamentary vote needed to push through additional austerity measures will pass. That sentiment is helping to boost the Euro against the U.S. Dollar, and also giving a lift to Asian equities during the Asian trading session.

As reported at 2:22 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, on the EBS trading platform the Euro was trading against the greenback at $1.4367, dropping back slightly from the $1.4371 late New York Trade. The Euro also moved higher against other safe haven currencies, trading against the Yen at 116.50 Yen, a dip off yesterday’s trade of 116.56 Yen. Against the Swiss Franc the Euro was recently higher at 1.1961.

With the voting only hours away, investors are likely to see some marked volatility ahead. Because the market has already factored the austerity plan’s passage in, a rejection will result in sharp deterioration of the common currency and a stampede into the safe haven currencies. While the lawmakers understand the ramifications of a rejection, the plan’s passage isn’t certain even with the ruling party’s small majority of five votes.