Ukraine crisis: Bitcoin jumps more than 11%; Russian stocks & ruble rise

Cryptocurrencies rose on Friday following a steep sell-off a day earlier that saw around $150 billion wiped off the market after Russia invaded Ukraine. Bitcoin was trading about 11 per cent higher at $39,466.84 at 7:19 pm IST, according to Coindesk data.

Other digital coins including ether and XRP saw solid gains as well. Russia’s currency and its benchmark stock index gained on Friday.  Russia’s benchmark stock index, the MOEX, gained 14 per cent on Friday after shedding a third of its value on Thursday. The ruble rose 0.5 per cent against the dollar.

Russia invaded Ukraine and Europe bought more gas

In the hours after the invasion of Ukraine, there were calls for Europe to punish Russia by ending energy purchases. But the immediate response of European energy firms was to buy more natural gas. For a second day, utilities are ordering more fuel under long-term contracts with Gazprom because the deals are priced in a way that Russian imports became cheaper than spot gas traded at European hubs.

Russian gas supplies via Ukraine jumped almost 38 per cent on Thursday and are expected to increase further by about 24 per cent on Friday, according to data.   Bloomberg