Bitcoin, Ether extend losses; all eyes on U.S. interest rate

Bitcoin and Ether fell in Tuesday afternoon trade in Asia after rallying through the past week, while financial authorities injected cash into markets to ease liquidity pressures and took other steps to address concerns over a banking sector crisis in the U.S. and Europe. 

See related article: Crypto needs to look abroad as US exchanges go unbanked

Fast facts

• Bitcoin – the world’s largest cryptocurrency – lost 2.44% to US$27,575 in 24 hours to 4 p.m. in Hong Kong, according to CoinMarketCap data, and gained 13.09% on the week. Ethereum dropped 3.42% to US$1,735, after gaining 3.49% in the last seven days.
• Most top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos declined, with Polygon’s Matic token leading losses, declining 5.08% to US$1.10 on the day and decreasing 5.7% on the week. Dogecoin was the second-biggest loser, falling 4.9% to US$0.07134 and losing 1.48% in the last seven days. 
• Total crypto market capitalization fell 2.85% to US$1.15 trillion, while total crypto market volume dropped 6.68% to US$70.57 billion in the last 24 hours.
• Most Asian equity markets gained on Tuesday after a relief rally in U.S. equities on Monday, as concerns over a larger banking sector turmoil eased after authorities took charge to oversee takeovers of Signature Bank and Credit Suisse. 
• “Since our administration and the regulators took decisive action last weekend, we have seen deposits stabilize at regional banks throughout the country and, in some cases, outflows have modestly reversed,” White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa told Bloomberg. 
• U.S. authorities are studying if regulators, in case of a banking sector emergency, can temporarily provide deposit insurance more than the current US$250,000 cap, according to Bloomberg.  
• The Shanghai Composite inched up 0.64% and the Shenzhen Component Index gained 1.6%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.36%, South Korea’s Kospi increased 0.38% while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.42%.  
• Investors are looking forward to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s March 22 announcement on interest rates and the direction of the economy. The U.S. central bank is expected to increase interest rates by 25 basis points, lower than earlier market talk of 50 basis points before the banking crisis.
• European stocks extended gains as concerns around the banking crisis started easing, after UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse and with European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde reiterating on Sunday that the ECB is ready to support European banks with emergency loans.
• The benchmark STOXX 600 rose 1.33% and Germany’s DAX 40 strengthened 1.53%.
• Investors are also looking ahead to the release of the ZEW economic sentiment survey, to gauge the economic health of the eurozone region.
• Gold slid 0.52%, hovering near a year-high of US$1,980 an ounce, amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will ease its monetary policy tightening in light of the banking crisis.
• See related article: Bitcoin hovers near US$28,000, crypto markets pause for a breath