Sawt Falasteen - Bitcoin close to record as cautious markets eye US election

The leading digital currency was trading around $72,400 at 0300 GMT, after climbing as high as $73,563.63 in late US trade, just shy of its all-time peak of $73,797.98 in March.

The surge in the price of bitcoin is seen as a bet on a Republican victory, as Donald Trump has emerged as the pro-crypto candidate.

The price of bitcoin closely follows Trump's standing in the polls because a Republican victory would lead to an increase in demand for the digital currency, said Russ Mould, an analyst at AJ Bell.

During his presidency Trump referred to cryptocurrencies as a scam, but has since radically changed his position, presenting himself as a "pro-bitcoin president" if elected and launching his own crypto platform.

With the uncertainty surrounding the very tight US election, safe-haven gold also reached a record high of $2,782.17 on Wednesday.

Oil prices rebounded slightly after falling sharply earlier in the week as fears of an escalation in the Middle East eased after Israel's strikes on Iran avoided the country's energy infrastructure.

"The broader performance in oil prices seems slightly discordant with what is happening across the globe," said Daniela Sabin Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

"It seems as if oil prices are ignoring improving economic data in the US and stimulus efforts from China to revive its struggling economy."

Investors are hoping a key political meeting in Beijing next week will unveil a major stimulus plan for the Chinese economy, which has struggled to recover from the pandemic with growth dragged down a debt crisis in the property sector.

Asian stocks fell Wednesday following a mixed lead from Wall Street with markets in wait-and-see mode ahead of the US election and the Federal Reserve's rate decision next week.

Tokyo and Taipei were the only advancers, with the Japanese market up 1.3 percent as it continued its run-up on the yen's weakness and tech gains.

Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Manila and Bangkok all retreated.

Investors are awaiting a raft of key US economic data for more clues about the health of the world's largest economy and the direction of the US central bank's interest rate policy.

Third-quarter GDP growth estimates will be released later Wednesday, with inflation data and the closely watched monthly labor market report out Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Data released Tuesday showed US job openings fell to the lowest level since 2021 and below market expectations, indicating the labour market could be cooling.

"At face value that suggests there probably is some underlying trend cooling in the background," Taylor Nugent of National Australia Bank said on the Morning Call podcast following the JOLTS data.

But overall there was "nothing to say that things are really tightening, that the Fed's going to be particularly concerned the labour market is re-emerging as a source of risk for inflation, but not necessarily bad news either from that data in totality," he said.

Yields on 10-year US Treasuries have edged up to above 4.3 percent this week, the highest since early July, suggesting that some market participants are increasingly counting on more limited rate cuts from the Fed at its November 7 meeting.

- Key figures around 0400 GMT -

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 39,390.49

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.1 percent at 20,480.25

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,276.80

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0817 from $1.0816 on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3003 from $1.3010

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 153.33 yen from 153.57 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 83.19 pence from 83.13 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $71.39 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $67.47 per barrel

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.4 percent at 42,233.05 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.8 percent at 8,219.61 (close)

F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST