// MARKETS

EUR/USD held flat at 1.1631 as a firmer dollar from the crypto-driven risk-off capped the euro near the middle of its recent range.

Cable was steady at 1.3464 even as gilts slumped on political risk tied to a reported Burnham leadership challenge to Starmer.

USD/JPY pushed to 159.88, within a whisker of its 52-week high, as yield differentials and BoJ caution kept the yen pinned.

The Aussie firmed to 0.7176, near its 12-month high, riding the risk-on tech tape and a firmer oil price.

Gold edged up 0.3% to $4,489, holding the $4,500 zone, after a Reuters note flagged it has overtaken Treasurys as the top central-bank reserve asset.

Silver firmed 0.4% to $75.31, edging higher but still roughly a third below its cycle peak.

WTI jumped 1.7% to $93.76 as fresh Middle East hostilities and Strait of Hormuz risk revived the supply premium.

The S&P 500 notched another record close at 7,610, up 0.1%, as a powerful chip rally outweighed an oil spike and the crypto rout.

The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.5% to a record 30,661, led by Nvidia's new PC-processor launch and a 32% surge in Marvell.

The Dow added 0.45% to a record 51,308, lagging tech but lifted by the broad risk-on tone.

Bitcoin plunged 6.9% to $66,408 after MicroStrategy disclosed it sold BTC to fund dividends, breaking its never-sell stance, while capital rotated into AI chips.

Ether dropped 8% to $1,843, underperforming Bitcoin in a broad crypto deleveraging.

Nvidia eased 0.7% to $222.82, pausing even as its new PC-processor launch lit a fire under the wider chip complex, with Marvell up 32%.

Tesla rose 1.9% to $423.74, outperforming megacaps as SpaceX IPO buzz lifted the broader Musk complex.

Apple jumped 2.9% to a fresh 52-week high of $315 on the debut of its AI Siri and bill-splitting features.

Microsoft fell 4.2% to $441, the day's mega-cap laggard, sliding well below its 52-week high.

Meta slipped 0.5% to $598 amid an employee backlash over its AI data-privacy practices.

Alphabet dropped 3.9% to $362, underperforming its mega-cap peers on the session.

Amazon eased 1.8% to $257, pulling back with the mega-cap software cohort.