Cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu rise; here're broader crypto market trends

Major cryptocurrencies surged on Thursday, with Bitcoin, the world's largest virtual currency in terms of market capitalisation, staying above the $43,500 level.

Bitcoin, which fell below $43,500 level on Wednesday, was trading 0.73 percent up at $43,778.66 at 8:56 am, according to CoinDesk data. The cryptocurrency on Tuesday surged nearly 4 percent, touching the 50-day moving average for the first time in nearly a month. Bitcoin had recorded a high of near $69,000 hit in November 2021.

Second-largest cryptocurrency Ether, which is linked to ethereum blockchain, rose nearly 3 percent to $3,187.7 at 9:01 am. Meme crypto Dogecoin also gained marginally to $0.16, while Shiba Inu, which had shed nearly 7 percent on Wednesday, rose nearly 3 percent to $0.000032.

Solana, which witnessed substantial interest from the crypto traders last year, turned negative to trade at $111.4 at 9:04 am.

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Other cryptocurrencies such as Litcoin, XRP, Chainlink, Avalanche, Cardano, and Polygon were trading in the green over the past 24 hours. On the other hand, Stellar, Terra, and Internet Computer, among others, were trading lower.

The Wall Street indices gained substantially for the second day in a row - S&P 500 gained 1.5 percent, Dow Jones added 0.9 percent, while Nasdaq rose 2.1 percent in trade.

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Oil prices were mixed on Thursday, after rallying on an unexpected drop in US crude inventories in the previous session, as investors await the outcome of US-Iran nuclear talks that could add crude supplies quickly to global markets, according to Reuters.

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Meanwhile, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget announced a 30 percent tax on the returns from trading or investing in cryptocurrencies or other digital assets such as NFTs.