Bitcoin Jumps to Highest Level in a Month | Economy

Cryptocurrency bitcoin rose to a one-month high on Monday, extending a rally that followed the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut last week, while the yen continued to decline in thin trade due to a holiday in Japan.

Bitcoin rose 1.8% to $63,954, hovering near a one-month high.

The cryptocurrency Ether also rose 3% to $2,660.30, near its highest level since late August.

Yen continues to fall

The dollar traded at 144.16 yen on Monday. The greenback rose against the yen last week after monetary policy decisions in the United States and Japan, reaching a two-week high of 144.50 yen.

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged last week, and indicated that it was in no hurry to raise them again.

The decision, which came just days after the US Federal Reserve cut interest rates by 50 basis points, ended a series of big gains for the yen this month, with the Japanese currency rising 1.4% in September.

With markets closed for a holiday in Japan, the main driver of trading has been expectations of further interest rate cuts in the United States and gains for stocks, currencies, commodities and other riskier assets.

The dollar index, which measures the performance of the US currency against six other major currencies, recorded 100.75, remaining above the lowest level in a year recorded last week.

Performance of other major currencies

• The Australian dollar rose 0.4% to $0.68355, extending gains of 3% in less than two weeks.
• The euro settled at $1.1165.
• Sterling was little changed at $1.3315, remaining close to highs hit on Friday after strong UK retail sales data.

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged on Thursday, with its governor saying the bank should be “careful not to cut too quickly or too much”.

Expectations of further US interest rate cuts

According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, futures traders expect the Fed to cut rates by 75 basis points by the end of this year and cut them by 200 basis points by December 2025, bringing the interest rate to 2.75% by the end of next year.

Most economists in a Reuters poll expected a 25 basis point rate cut at each of the Fed’s last two meetings this year.