Litecoin led the tape into the London close, up 16.24% to $71.81 and now 42.31% higher on the month. It headed a broad crypto bid that outpaced every other asset class on the session.

Crypto

The strength ran well beyond the leader. LNKUSD rose 7.23% to $13.24 and Stellar added 6.56% to $0.215, extending an 11.53% weekly run. Polkadot climbed 6.38% to $1.168, up 33.79% on the month, while GRTUSD gained 5.26% and now sits 46.07% above where it traded a month ago.

Cardano rose 4.46% to $0.2484 and Dogecoin added 3.68%. XRP firmed 2.57% to $1.5384, a 10.26% weekly gain, and XTZUSD’s 2.14% leaves it 51.11% higher on the month. Solana rose 1.71% to $116.87 and BNB added 1.65% to $778.93.

The majors lagged. Bitcoin was effectively flat at $84,399, though still 4.37% higher on the week, and Ethereum edged up 0.16% to $2,687.90. UNIUSD was the session’s lone crypto decliner at -0.98%, even as it holds a 108.77% monthly gain.

Energy and metals

Crude was the standout outside crypto. USOil rose 2.64% to $93.95 and UKOil added 2.04% to $100.66, both up more than 15% on the month and over 44% on the year.

Precious metals went the other way. Silver fell 0.69% to $63.84, extending a 7.39% monthly slide, and gold slipped 0.35% to $4,273.85, down 7.57% over the month. Platinum bucked the group with a 0.17% gain to $1,759.06, while palladium was flat at $1,261.35.

Currencies and indices

The dollar firmed against most majors. USDMXN rose 0.88% to 17.694 and USDJPY added 0.34% to 158.80, up 1.23% on the week. The Antipodeans were the drag, AUD/USD down 0.31% to 0.70104 and NZD/USD off 0.47% and now 5.03% lower on the month. Sterling eased 0.19% to 1.32119 and EUR/USD held at 1.1375, both down more than 2% on the month.

European equities closed higher. The IBEX 35 led at +0.59% to 19,690.8, now up 30.08% on the year, with the Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.22% and the FTSE 100 adding 0.18% to 10,704.35. Wall Street was softer, the Dow off 0.31% and the S&P 500 down 0.08%, while the Nikkei 225 was the day’s weakest major index at -0.53%.

Crypto remains the session’s clear driver, with the smaller tokens running well ahead of Bitcoin and Ethereum.