The Nikkei 225 stole the session, closing up 1.88% at 68,483 and extending its week to +4.04%. Over twelve months it is now up 59.01%, the standout among the indices we track.

Precious metals took the next two spots on the leaderboard, with gold and silver each adding 0.83%.

Metals

Gold sits at 4,407.58, up 3.65% on the week and 8.74% on the month. Silver closed at 65.29, its 5.93% weekly gain and 11.08% monthly run leaving it 69.49% higher over the year β€” the strongest 12-month figure in the metals group. Platinum firmed 0.41% to 1,755.68, and palladium edged up 0.23% to 1,370.23.

Indices

Europe was quiet. The DAX slipped 0.14% to 26,356 and the CAC eased 0.25%, while the Euro Stoxx 50 (+0.02%) and IBEX (+0.05%) barely moved. The FTSE 100 added 0.19% to 10,847. All four European benchmarks still hold monthly gains above 4%.

Wall Street tilted higher as London closed, with the Nasdaq 100 up 0.50% to 29,702 and the S&P 500 up 0.14%. The Dow was flat at 53,764. The Hang Seng was the day’s weak index, down 0.85%.

Currencies

The dollar firmed against the Nordics. USD/SEK rose 0.55% to 9.5706 and USD/CHF gained 0.26% to 0.8131. EUR/USD slipped 0.20% to 1.15197, and GBP/USD eased 0.13% to 1.34908. USD/JPY was little changed at 159.41.

The rand and peso outperformed: USD/ZAR fell 0.61% to 16.08 and USD/MXN dropped 0.20% to 17.035, extending weekly declines of 1.58% and 0.97%.

Crypto

Digital assets filled the loser board. ADA fell 3.22% to 0.1806 and is down 9.97% on the week and 80.03% on the year. Dogecoin dropped 3.21% to 0.0693, and XRP shed 1.74% to 1.0035.

The majors held up better. Bitcoin eased just 0.26% to 63,364 and Ethereum slipped 0.32% to 1,874.51, with Solana off 1.01% at 75.42. BNB fell 1.25% but remains 2.82% higher on the week.

Energy

Both crude grades gave back a little after a strong week. Brent fell 0.59% to 86.96 and WTI dropped 0.73% to 81.73, though weekly gains of 5.41% and 5.89% remain intact.

Going into the US afternoon, the smaller-cap tokens remain the session’s soft spot while precious metals hold their footing.