World stocks are a mix, but Bitcoin stays steady near $20,000

• The price of bitcoin held at $20,000, as European benchmarks rose after most Asian markets fell.
• Dollar was trading at 134.76 yen against the Japanese yen, down from 135 late Friday.
• China’s 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates remained constant, as expected.

After most Asian markets fell, European indexes rose Monday, but the bitcoin prices remained near $20,000.

Early Monday, U.S. futures rose while oil prices dipped.

After rebounding over the weekend, the price of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency hovered near the psychological benchmark of $20,000. According to the cryptocurrency news site CoinDesk, bitcoin dropped nearly 10% to under $18,600 at one time.

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It was $20,650.56 at 0500 ET (0900 GMT) Monday.

The CAC 40 index in France rose 0.2 percent to 5,893.20. The DAX in Germany rose 0.2 percent to 13,150.16. The FTSE 100 index in the United Kingdom increased by 0.5 percent to 7,049.87. Markets in the United States are closed on Monday in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. The Dow Industrial futures were up 0.4 percent, while the S&P 500 futures were up 0.5 percent.

China’s 1-year and 5-year loan prime rates remained constant, as expected.

“Rate cuts in the coming months are still likely as we expect the economic recovery to be slow under the COVID-zero policy,” he said, citing China’s difficulty to contain epidemics and its already weakening economy. In a remark, Iris Pang, chief economist of Greater China at ING, suggested that after this rate pause, the government should provide further fiscal stimulus.

The Nikkei 225 index in Japan fell 0.7 percent to 25,771.22. The S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia fell 0.6 percent to 6,433.40. The Kospi in South Korea fell 2.0 percent to 2,391.03. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong increased by 0.4 percent to 21,163.91, while the Shanghai Composite fell by less than 0.1 percent to 3,315.43.

Unlike the US Federal Reserve and central banks in many other nations, China and Japan, two of the world’s three largest economies, are not hiking interest rates. Fears that the global economy would enter a recession if policymakers proceed too rapidly with interest rate hikes and other monetary policy tightening measures have caused markets to retrace their steps after stock prices climbed thanks to huge support during the pandemic.

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Despite concerns over the sinking yen, Japan’s central bank maintained its near-zero interest rate policy last week.

The dollar was trading at 134.76 yen against the Japanese yen, down from 135 late Friday. The euro now costs $1.0525, compared to $1.0489 previously.