By: Barbara Zigah

The Euro is under heavy pressure in Asian trading today, meeting resistance following a rebound triggered by Greece’s latest move. Market players are increasingly frustrated with the Eurozone’s debt crisis, and particularly the Greek government’s political instability. The Greek prime minister has agreed to step aside even if his backers help him to push through a win on the confidence vote scheduled for later today. As reported at 1:37 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Euro fell 0.2% against the U.S. Dollar, trading at $1.3798 from late New York levels. On Thursday, the EUR/USD pair struck $1.3855, near the 55-day moving average, and well off the $1.3608 low struck on Tuesday when the latest Greek emergency flared.

The European Central Bank gave the markets a much needed boost yesterday with an unexpected drop in the benchmark lending rate to 1.25% from 1.50%. The new head of the ECB, Mario Draghi, said that the Eurozone’s economy and bleak outlook, with the possibility of a mild recession occurring, warranted the drop, even in the face of above target inflation.

Markets will focus on the G-20 meeting which begins in Cannes, France, but will intensify scrutiny in the U.S. on today’s release of the October non-farms payroll figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Following the ADP release earlier in the week, traders are hopeful of good news.