Bitcoin, Ether inch up; equities strengthen after phone call between China’s Xi Jinping, Ukraine’s Zelensky

Bitcoin and Ether rose during Asian trading hours on Thursday, while most top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization declined. Cardano’s ADA token saw the biggest gain. Asian and European equity markets strengthened, along with most U.S. stock futures, after Chinese President Xi Jinping called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss efforts to broker peace. 

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin rose 0.99% to US$28,962 in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to around US$27,500 yesterday, before returning above US$28,000.
• Ether rose 0.72% during the day to trade at US$1,887, after it fell below US$1,900 earlier today.
• Cardano’s ADA, the day’s biggest gainer in the top 10 cryptos, rose 2.61% to US$0.41. Polkadot’s DOT token saw the biggest loss, falling 2.51% to US$5.91.
• The global cryptocurrency market capitalization increased 0.46% to US$1.19 trillion in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong, and total crypto market trading volume gained 78.69% to US$72.25 billion.
• The Forkast 500 NFT index rose 2.93% to 3,730.27 points during the day and dropped 6.97% during the week. The index is a proxy measure of the performance of the global NFT market and includes 500 eligible smart contracts on any given day. It is managed by CryptoSlam, a sister company of Forkast.News under the Forkast.Labs umbrella.
• Asian equities strengthened, lifted by U.S. stock futures and easing concerns over geopolitical pressures after China’s President Xi Jinping made his first phone call to Ukraine’s President Zelensky since the Russian invasion. Zelensky wrote on messaging app Telegram, that the call focused on “ways of possible cooperation to establish a just and sustainable peace for Ukraine.”
• Japan’s Nikkei 225 inched up 0.15%, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.67%, the Shenzhen Component gained 0.28% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index ended the day 0.42% higher.
• European bourses strengthened, amid renewed hopes of peace in the Ukraine war. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.2% and Germany’s DAX 40 inched up 0.16%.
• Most U.S. stock futures strengthened on Wednesday, besides the Dow Jones Industrial Average that fell 0.68%. The S&P 500 Futures rose 0.45% and the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.47%.
• The U.S. dollar inched down 0.06% to 101.4, extending yesterday’s losses. The euro gained 0.11% to hold above US$1.10.
• Gold rose 0.48% to US$1,999 per ounce, as renewed concerns about the U.S. banking sector drove investors to the precious metal.

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