The Daily Bullion: Bitcoin Cash surges 28%, majors quiet

Bitcoin Cash is the morning’s outlier, up 28.14% to $342.33 while the currency majors barely twitched. The move extends a 55.01% run over the past week, though the token is still down 38.44% on the year.

Crypto sets the pace

BCH leads a scattered but broadly firmer altcoin board. UNI added 13.74% to $10.2285 and is now up 136.20% over the past month, the widest 30-day gain in the data. GRT rose 8.12% to $0.0253, stretching its weekly advance to 40.56%.

The larger names lagged their smaller peers. XRP gained 2.52% to $1.5737 and Cardano 2.45% to $0.2507, each carrying weekly gains north of 21%. Bitcoin itself eased 0.41% to $86,237.68, Ethereum slipped 0.92% to $2,749.58 and BNB fell 1.81% to $783.85 — all three still up double digits on the week despite the pause.

Currencies stay range-bound

Against the crypto churn, the majors were flat. EUR/USD eased 0.17% to 1.14438, leaving it 1.92% lower on the month, while GBP/USD dipped 0.22% to 1.33373, down 2.19% over the same stretch. USD/JPY was effectively unchanged at 157.41.

The clearest FX move came from the rand: USD/ZAR fell 0.94% to 16.082, a 1.77% weekly drop for the dollar against it. Elsewhere the greenback firmed modestly, with USD/MXN up 0.41% to 17.284 and USD/CAD up 0.19% to 1.406.

Energy slides, metals mixed

Crude was the session’s weak spot outside crypto. WTI (USOil) fell 2.51% to $89.45 and Brent (UKOil) lost 1.39% to $95.11, extending weekly declines of 7.91% and 6.65% respectively — though both still hold gains of roughly 40% on the year.

Metals were quieter. Platinum rose 1.10% to $1,841.73 and silver added 0.64% to $67.06, the latter now up 52.62% on the year. Gold slipped 0.23% to $4,358.67, paring a monthly decline of 6.87%.

Equities offered little direction. The Nasdaq 100 firmed 0.49% to 30,702.71 and is up 5.34% on the week, while the Nikkei 225 added 0.43% to 67,027.30, a striking 47.41% higher on the year. The Dow eased 0.36% to 51,856.34.

Into the new session, crude remains the clear laggard, WTI down nearly 8% over five days even after a 5.53% monthly gain.