Bitcoin, all top 10 cryptos fall; Asian equity markets drop

Bitcoin fell in Tuesday afternoon trade in Asia, along with all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies. Polygon was the biggest loser followed by Solana. Most Asian markets dropped amid concerns of rising Covid cases in China ahead of its Labour Day holiday, the first long public holiday since the Lunar New Year. Most U.S. stock futures traded in the red while European bourses extended losses. 

See related article: Cryptocurrencies trade lower as weekly losses pile up

Fast facts

• Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, lost 0.68% to US$27,279 in 24 hours to 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, and declined 8.46% on the week, according to CoinMarketCap data. 
• Ethereum, the world’s second-biggest cryptocurrency, dropped 1.53% to US$1,815, after falling 13.58% in the last seven days. 
• Polygon’s Matic token led the losers, declining 2.58% to US$0.9646, bringing its weekly losses to 17.67%. Solana was the second-biggest loser of the day, dropping 1.81% to US$20.89, after falling 16.75% on the week. 
• The total crypto market capitalization dropped 0.78% to US$1.15 trillion, while crypto market volume gained 10.63% to US$36.19 billion in 24 hours. 
• Asian equity markets mostly dropped over concerns of rising Covid cases in China ahead of its long Labour Day holidays that begin on Saturday. Tensions also emerged after news of U.S. President Joe Biden potentially limiting investments by American businesses in China. 
• The Shanghai Composite lost 0.32% and the Shenzhen Component Index fell 1.48%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.71% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 strengthened 0.09%. 
• The Forkast 500 NFT index slid 0.81% to 3,740.65 points on the day and dropped 7.88% on 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.
• European bourses declined on Tuesday with the benchmark STOXX 600 falling 0.39% and Germany’s DAX 40 inching down 0.11%. Investors remained focused on earnings reports, after UBS reported a 52% decline in net profit for the first quarter, while Santander’s profits topped analyst estimates.
• Most U.S. stock futures declined on Tuesday, except the Dow Jones Industrial Average that inched up 0.2%. The S&P 500 Futures fell 0.56% and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.29%.
• Investors are anticipating corporate earnings from Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Visa, Pepsico and McDonald’s, to be released Wednesday.
• The U.S. dollar index inched up 0.04% to 101.3 points on Tuesday, after losing 0.4% yesterday. The euro edged up 0.02% to US$1.10, close to a one-year high, as the market readied for a 25 basis points rate hike by the European Central Bank.
• Gold rose 0.05% to US$1,989 per ounce on Tuesday, after trading flat during the previous session.
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