Markets: Bitcoin holds $19,000 (just); Cardano, XRP lead losses among top 10 crypto

Bitcoin dipped but just held the US$19,000 support line in Thursday evening trading in Asia. Excluding stablecoins, all other cryptocurrencies on the top 10 list by market capitalization fell. Cardano led the declines.

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin fell 0.52% in the past 24 hours to trade at US$19,010 at 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, while Ether dropped 1.37% to US$1,277, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

• XRP slipped 6.69% to US$0.46, despite seemingly positive developments in the lawsuit between Ripple Labs, the firm whose payment network is powered by XRP, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On Tuesday, the presiding judge ruled that two firms would be allowed to submit amicus briefs in support of Ripple, overruling SEC objections.  

• Cardano led losses among the top 10 cryptos, slumping 8.11% to US$0.36, to rack up a 16.40% decline for the previous seven days. Solana fell 4.88% to US$29.74, and Dogecoin lost 4.56% to change hands at US$4.56. 

• Asia equity markets followed Wall Street’s dip overnight. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index dropped 1.87%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.60% lower. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.30%.  

• The long-term outlook for Asian markets was cast in dimmer light by the International Monetary Fund this week, forecasting that Asia will face rising debt and capital flight in 2023 as interest rates rise further. It also cut China’s growth forecast to 4.4% from 4.6%, highlighting its recurring “COVID-19 outbreaks and lockdowns” and “the worsening property market crisis.”
• In the U.S., the Bureau of Labor Statistics is due to release the Consumer Price Index report for September on Thursday morning (ET), which will factor into the Federal Reserve’s decisions on interest rate policy at their next meeting on November 2.
• Head of Asia Corporate Research at JPMorgan Soo Chong Lim said Wednesday on CNBC that the investment bank’s house view is that the Fed will raise rates by 75 basis points in November and 50 basis points in December. The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrel this week said the Fed is forcing other central banks to follow in raising rates “because otherwise their currency will be [devalued]…this will bring us to a world recession.”

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