Bitcoin and Ether fell during Asian trading hours on Thursday, along with the rest of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, with Polygon’s Matic posting the biggest gains. Most Asian equity markets strengthened despite Wall Street’s overnight downtrend after some U.S. Federal Reserve officials reiterated their commitment to further interest rate hikes.
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Fast facts
- Bitcoin fell 1.98% to US$22,746 in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, and Ether lost 2.32% to US$1,635, according to CoinMarketCap data.
- Matic rose 3.38% to trade at US$1.32, as the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies fell. Shiba Inu saw the biggest losses, as it fell 5.7% to US$0.00001340.
- The global cryptocurrency market capitalization decreased by 2.1% to US$1.06 trillion in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, while total crypto market trading volume increased by 7.04% to US$65.21 billion.
- Most Asian equities were up despite Wall Street’s overnight slump, caused by multiple U.S. Federal Reserve officials reiterating their stance on more interest rate hikes to combat inflation.
- Japan’s Nikkei 225 slid 0.08%, the Shanghai Composite rose 1.18% and the Shenzhen Component closed the day 1.64% higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.6% to nearly a week-high.
- Investors are turning their attention to Toyota, Tokyo Electron and Nexon that will release their corporate earnings later today.
- European investors are seeing positive signs after Germany’s annual inflation for 2022 came in at 8.7%, below a forecast of 8.9%. The optimism pushed the STOXX 600 Index to a nine-month high, with Germany’x DAX 40 exceeding €15,600 for the first time since February 2022.
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