Bitcoin and Ether fell during Thursday afternoon trading in Asia, along with most of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with Polygon’s Matic leading losses for a second consecutive session. Asian equities were mixed following China’s consumer price index report. U.S. stock futures strengthened, along with the U.S. dollar, after consumer inflation in the world’s largest economy unexpectedly slowed in April.
See related article: Central Banks’ actions move Crypto; Standard Chartered eyes $100K Bitcoin
Crypto markets mixed as Bitcoin trades above US$27,000
Bitcoin fell 0.58% to US$27,423 in 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s first cryptocurrency tried to inch above US$30,000 on Saturday but failed and closed at US$29,81.
Ether fell 1.02% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$1,820. Ether briefly dipped as low as US$1,797 during yesterday’s trading session, before reclaiming the US$1,800 psychological level.
“Crypto has improved its credibility drastically over the last few years but with the recent events of FTX and Celsius, it has taken a large step back,” said Kasper Vandeloock, chief executive officer of quantitative trading firm Musca Capital. “I see a lot of traditional investors being interested in crypto but they are holding back as they fear new regulations.”
Polygon’s Matic token led the losses for a second consecutive day, as it declined 1.91% to US$0.8569, followed by Dogecoin, down 1.52% to US$0.0718.
Polkadot’s DOT token was the biggest daily gainer, up 1.44% in the past 24 hours to US$5.39.
NFTs sales on Ethereum boosted by Milady Maker
In the NFT market, the Forkast 500 NFT index fell 0.45% to 3,436.60 points in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong and declined 6.11% during the week.
24-hour NFT sales on Ethereum rallied 69.58% to US$33.9 million. The largest blockchain for NFTs was boosted by the Milday Maker NFT collection, which saw a 2606% surge, generating over US$9.6 million of sales in the past 24 hours for the network. The collection started rallying yesterday after Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk posted a meme of a Milady NFT on his verified Twitter account.
Sales for the Bored Ape Yacht Club also surged 283.16% to over US$6 million, while sales for the Mutant Ape Yacht Club increased 482.14% to US$4.2 million.
Looking at the day’s largest NFT transactions, CryptoPunk #5969 sold for US$128,824 and CryptoPunk #9026 sold for US$122,138.
Asian equities mixed; U.S. futures boosted by slowing inflation
Asian equities were mixed on Thursday, as investors digested China’s consumer price index data, which rose 0.1% in April year-on-year, the slowest increase since early 2021. China’s core inflation, excluding food and energy, remained steady at 0.7% year-on-year.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.29% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 0.093%. The Shenzhen Component Index inched up 0.021% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.016%.
U.S. stock futures strengthened as of 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, after the newly-released consumer price index report showed that headline inflation in April unexpectedly slowed, boosting expectations that the Federal Reserve could pause rate hikes next month. U.S. annual inflation slowed to 4.9% in April, from 5% in March, while the consumer price index increased 0.4% in April.
The S&P 500 futures index rose 0.27%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 futures gained 0.28% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures inched up 0.1%.
Boosted by the slowing inflation numbers, the U.S. dollar index rose 0.42% to 101.9 points, while the euro lost ground, falling 0.49% to US$1.09, the lowest in three weeks.
On talks to raise the U.S. debt ceiling to keep the government solvent, President Joe Biden warned on Wednesday that a federal government default could trigger a global recession, according to a Bloomberg report. Biden is set to continue talks to raise the debt ceiling on Friday, with congressional Republicans demanding more budget cuts in any agreement.
On other data releases, the U.S. producer price index and jobless claims come out Thursday to offer further insights into the health of the economy.
Investors are now looking ahead at the Bank of England’s upcoming monetary policy decision scheduled for today. The central bank is expected to raise rates by 25 basis points to 4.5%, pushing borrowing costs to levels not seen since 2008, raising economist concerns.
See related article: Crypto and NFT Market Update – May 10th
