Markets: Bitcoin, Ether slip; Dogecoin biggest loser among top 10 cryptos

Bitcoin and Ether inched down during Asia trading hours on Friday afternoon, with Dogecoin leading losses among the top 10 largest non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.

• Bitcoin fell by 0.36% in the past 24 hours, to trade at US$16,487 by 4:30 p.m. in Hong Kong. Ether lost 0.31% to change hands at US$1,189, according to CoinMarketCap data.
• Dogecoin decreased 3.95% to trade at US$0.068, and Polygon’s Matic saw the second biggest loss, down by 3.21% to US$0.75.
• The global crypto market cap decreased 0.64% over the last 24 hours to US$790 billion,  and total crypto market volumes fell 3.51% to US$27.49 billion.
• Asia equity markets were up following Wall Street’s recovery. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rallied 0.83%, the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.51%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index inched up by 0.2%.
• Bitcoin fell below the US$17,000 mark on Dec. 16 after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point to the range of 4.25%-4.5% – the highest rates in 15 years. Bitcoin has since remained under US$17,000, prompting concerns among investors about more potential downside for the crypto market.