Equity markets surge on hopes of Mideast peace, cryptos stall with Dogecoin down 4% and Bitcoin's ascent on hold.

The cryptocurrency market experienced a brief respite on Thursday, as investors took a breather from the recent rally, while the global equity market continued its upward trajectory. During Asian trading hours, Bitcoin's price stood at $80,945, marking a 0.7% decline over the past 24 hours, yet still boasting a 6.9% weekly gain. In contrast, Ether's value slipped 2% to $2,326, and its 30-day return, which had earlier reached double digits, dropped 4.4% to $0.1106.

Other notable cryptocurrencies, such as $XRP and $BNB, demonstrated relative stability, with $XRP priced at $1.41 and $BNB increasing by 1.3% to $643. Solana, however, experienced a noteworthy surge of 6.1% over the week, reaching $88.06. The temporary pullback in the cryptocurrency market coincided with the global equity market's ascent to new heights, fueled by hopes of a ceasefire between the US and Iran, with reports suggesting that the two nations are working towards a proposal to end the nearly 10-week conflict.

The MSCI All Country World Index rose 0.3%, while the MSCI Asia gauge jumped 1.9% to a record high, with Japan's Nikkei 225 reaching an intraday peak. South Korea surpassed Canada as the world's seventh-largest equity market by value, driven by an 18% surge in Softbank's stock and a 3.3% increase in TSMC's value. Meanwhile, Wall Street indices closed at all-time highs on Wednesday, with approximately 80% of S&P 500 companies exceeding earnings estimates, according to Bloomberg.

In the commodity market, Brent crude remained below $102 per barrel, amid speculation that a potential US-Iran deal could facilitate the resumption of oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. Gold, on the other hand, experienced a third consecutive day of gains, reaching $4,700 per ounce, driven by expectations of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve and easing inflation concerns.

According to Alex Kuptsikevich, chief market analyst at FxPro, Bitcoin's next key test lies at the 200-day moving average, approximately $83,300. A consolidation above this level would be a further indication of bullish sentiment, following the cryptocurrency's ability to hold above the 50-day moving average a month ago. Kuptsikevich cautioned that a short-term profit-taking phase is likely as Bitcoin approaches $83,000, allowing investors to realize some of their gains.

The underlying structure of the market continues to support the upward trend, with Tether's market capitalization growing by $5.9 billion over the past 60 days, reversing a $2 billion monthly outflow trend, according to analyst Darkfost. This increase in Tether's market capitalization is seen as a source of new capital entering the cryptocurrency market.

In other developments, Morgan Stanley signaled that US banks may eventually be allowed to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets, despite current regulatory hurdles, with the bank already operating a Bitcoin-based ETP and planning to launch spot crypto trading on its wealth platform later this year. Western Union also launched its own stablecoin, USDPT, on the Solana network, aimed at bypassing traditional interbank settlement delays. Additionally, BitMine accumulated over 100,000 Ether for the third consecutive week, bringing its total Ether reserves to 5.18 million, valued at approximately $13 billion, or 4.29% of the total Ether supply.