Bitcoin and Ether rose 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. Asian equities were mixed following Wall Street’s overnight rally after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by the expected 25 basis points. Investors remain on the lookout for announcements on interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England (BoE) later in the day. 



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Fast facts




Bitcoin rose 3.77% to US$23,847 in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong. Ether rallied 6.37% to US$1,669, according to CoinMarketCap data.



Matic was up 12.98% to trade at US$1.23, outpacing Binance’s BNB, which rose 7.63% to US$329.89.



The global cryptocurrency market capitalization grew by 4.50% to US$1.09 trillion in the 24 hours to 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong. The total crypto market trading volume increased by 38.79% to US$63.83 billion.



Asian equities were mixed following Wall Street’s overnight surge with Japan’s Nikkei 225 rising 0.20% as the Shanghai Composite inched up 0.023%.



The Shenzhen Component and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed the trading day 0.22% and 0.52% lower respectively, despite positive global sentiment fueled by the U.S. Fed’s overnight decision to slow the pace of rate hikes. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority announced its decision to match the Fed’s 25 basis point rate increase.



Investors turned their attention to Europe following interest rate decisions in the U.S. and Hong Kong. The ECB is expected to announce its decision to raise interest rates to 2.5% on Thursday with a second consecutive half-percentage rate hike. The BoE is also expected to raise rates by 50 basis points.




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