Bitcoin price hits 17-month high on prospects of crypto ETF

Bitcoin prices rose to their highest in more than a year on Tuesday in Asia amid investor excitement over the prospect of an exchange-traded fund based on the cryptocurrency.

The world’s largest crypto coin by market capitalisation reached a high of $34,332.67, its strongest since May 2022, when the sudden collapse of tokens luna and terraUSD triggered a global sell-off in digital assets.

Crypto markets have been buoyed after media reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission will not dispute a ruling in favour of Grayscale Investments, a crypto investment group, that it wrongly rejected its application for a bitcoin ETF.

Bitcoin later pared gains to be up 11.9 per cent over the past 24 hours at $33,624.02.

Events: Chinese premier Li Qiang attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The three-day Future Investment Initiative opens in Riyadh to showcase new technology companies.

Economic indicators: October purchasing managers’ indices for Australian and Japanese manufacturing and services are scheduled. South Korea issues producer price index data for September. The Bank of Japan releases core consumer price index figures for last month.

Corporate data: China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China Unicom present third-quarter earnings, as does South Korean steelmaker Posco. In Japan, Yokohama-based confectionery chain Fujiya and Osaka-based equipment maker Shimano also report third-quarter figures. 

The British government’s flagship bill to shake up the housing rental market came under fire on Monday from the opposition, who said plans to end “no-fault” evictions in England were likely to be delayed for years pending glacial reforms to the courts.

Ministers confirmed last week that part of the law to prevent landlords from throwing out tenants without giving a reason would not be enforced until there had been adequate changes to the court system.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the government had “betrayed renters” by striking a “grubby deal with Tory backbenchers”, adding that the decision to await court reforms kicked the removal of no-fault evictions “into the long grass”.

The S&P 500 slipped into a loss in a choppy Monday trading session, as 10-year Treasury yields pulled back from a 16-year high.

The benchmark S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent, dragged lower by energy stocks as oil prices fell. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite added 0.3 per cent in afternoon trade, as the so-called “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks accelerated.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell 0.07 percentage points to 4.85 per cent after rising above 5 per cent earlier in the day.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, fell 2.5 per cent to $89.83 a barrel. The dollar fell 0.5 per cent against a basket of its peers.

Samuel García, the 35-year-old governor of the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León, has requested a leave of absence to compete to be his party’s presidential candidate for next year’s election, potentially becoming the first male candidate to run against two female frontrunners.

García needs the approval of the state congress, which is controlled by opposition parties, to take a six-month leave.

If García secures the nomination for his Citizens’ Movement party, his entry into the race may be negative for opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, who has so far failed to significantly dent the lead held by ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum.