Athens - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou won a parliamentary majority on Thursday in favour of an implementation law for a five-year austerity plan required under a European Union/International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout package.
With voting still continuing, Papandreou’s Socialist government had already reached the 151 votes required in the 300-seat chamber to secure both overall passage of the legislation and the separate articles.
The euro extended gains against the dollar on the news. The single currency was last at $1.4480, up 0.3% on the day, compared with the $1.4463 it traded at as news of the Greek vote reached investors.
The euro was still well off the session peak of $1.4521 touched earlier in the global session, according to Reuters data.