Gold prices rose in the European market on today's trading, amid attempts to recover from the four-month low recorded earlier yesterday, while those attempts are being restrained by the raise of the dollar against a basket of global currencies.

As of 09:45 GMT, Gold rose by 0.1% to trade at $1,273.60 per ounce from the opening level of $1,272.19 with a high of $1,273.92 and a low of $1,268.77.

Gold ended yesterday trading falling by 0.2%, in its second consecutive daily loss, recording a 4-month low of $1,266.29 an ounce as dollar rose.

In contrast to the impact of the US dollar rally, gold prices have been subjected to additional negative pressure, which is the weakness in demand for safe investment assets, as investors' risk appetite improved and their focus shifted to buying high-yielding assets stocks and international bonds.

The dollar index rose more than 0.1% on Wednesday, extending its gains for a second day in a row, approaching the seven-week high of 97.45 points, reflecting the continued rise of the US dollar against a basket of global currencies.

The rise in the US dollar purchases continue to be the best current investment in the foreign exchange market, with most major and minor currencies facing negative pressure, which may force most central banks to expand flexible monetary policies.

Gold holdings at SPDR Gold Trust, The world's largest gold-backed index, fell by 2.05 metric tons yesterday, to fall to 749.63 metric tons, the lowest level since 22nd of October, 2018.

Oil prices fell on the European market on Wednesday, dropping from the highest level in six months recorded earlier yesterday, with a marked activity of correction and profit taking, heading to the first loss in four days, as oil prices are under the pressure of the large rise in the commercial crude inventories in The United States, according to preliminary data from the American Petroleum Institute.

As of 08:45 GMT, US crude fell to $65.90 a barrel from the opening level of $66.15, with a high of $66.15 and a low of $65.77.

Brent crude fell to $74.10 a barrel from the opening level of $74.22 and recorded a high of $74.37 and a low of $74.00.

US crude added 0.8% yesterday, in the third consecutive daily gain, recording a six-month high at $66.58 a barrel. While Brent rose 0.4%, recording the highest level since November 1st at $74.71.

Oil prices have risen more than 3% since the start of the week, after the United States decided to end the exemptions granted to eight buyers of Iranian oil by May 1st.

Britain's Barclays Bank said that Washington's goal of cutting Iran's oil exports to zero was a bullish threat to the average price of Brent crude at $70 a barrel this year from an annual average of $65 per barrel.

In preliminary data, the US Petroleum Institute announced yesterday that the country's trade inventories rose by 6.9 million barrels in the week ending April 19th, the fourth increase in the past five weeks, exceeding experts' expectations of a rise of 1.3 million barrels.

According to the data, total US commercial inventories rose to 458.7 million barrels, the highest level of US stockpiles since October 2017, in a negative sign of demand levels in the world's largest oil consumer.

Traders are looking ahead to the official data for commercial inventories and production levels in the weekly report of the US Energy Agency later today, and expectations are for inventories to rise by 0.9 million barrels, the fourth increase over the past five weeks.

European shares rose in today's trading, extending their gains for the ninth session in a row, the longest daily gain series since October 2017, close to an eight-month high, as investors are valuing the earnings of major European companies and banks in the first quarter of this year.

Stoxx Europe 600 rose by more than 0.2% till 10:35 GMT, and the index ended yesterday's session up by 0.25%, the eighth daily gain in a row, as the energy sector rose strongly on the rise of oil prices in the global market.

The Index rose Wednesday morning to continue its ninth consecutive day of gains, approaching the highest level since August, with most of the major bourses and sectors in the positive region.

Credit Suisse bank index rose nearly 3% after announcing its Q1 profit rising, surpassing analysts' expectations, the second largest bank in Switzerland reported net income of 749 million Swiss francs ($734 million) for the first quarter of this year, an increase of 8% % on annual basis.

The German software company, Wirecard, jumped more than 8% after Japan's Softbank Group announced it would buy 5.6% of the company for 900 million euros ($1 billion).

S&P 500 futures fell more than 0.1%. as the index ended yesterday's session on Wall Street, up by 0.9%, its third straight daily gain, hitting a six-month high.

Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 0.3%. while In France, the CAC 40 index gained 0.1%. with Germany's DAX adding about 0.9% to top the gainers' list in Europe. In London, the FTSE 100 index fell 0.25% unlike the trend in Europe.

Bitcoin fell on Wednesday, for the first time in three days, pulling back from a five-month high recorded yesterday, on correction and profit taking activity, but prices is still ezpected to rise above $6,000 in the current bull market run, which dominates the largest cryptocurrency in the world.

As of 08:19 GMT, on Bitstamp Stock Exchange, Bitcoin is trading around $5,460, down by $71 or by 1.3%, from the opening price of $5,531, with a high of $5,623 and a low of $5,404.

Yesterday, Bitcoin gained 2.7%, its second consecutive daily gain, recording the highest level in five months at $5,627 per unit, with strong investment demand on the world's largest cryptocurrency.

Whilst, the market value of cryptocurrencies fell about $6 billion to $178 billion on Wednesday, with most of the major currency prices on the market falling.

Yesterday's market value was $186 billion, which the highest level since November.

The price of the world's largest cryptocurrency "Bitcoin" is currently declining as a result of corrective and profit-taking activity, but prices remain strongly expected to climb up to $6,000, with the strong recovery since early April.

Bitcoin rose more than 33% since the beginning of this month, about to hit the third consecutive monthly gain, and the largest monthly gain since April 2018.

Bitcoin also continues to dominate the crypto market, rising from less than 50% in early April to 54.7% at the moment, as investors continue to focus on the world's largest cryptocurrency, in a strong indicator that price recovery is on the right track.

Yesterday, there were some news that Nasdaq Bitcoin futures began to open, and TD Ameritrade confirmed that traders with accounts with a minimum of $25,000 would be allowed to access bitcoin futures.

Last year, Nasdaq announced that it was considering the bitcoin futures trading offer for the first quarter of this year, as well as the launch of the Bitcoin ETF in collaboration with VanEck and SolidX.

The Japanese billionaire, Masayoshi Son, the owner of the Softbank group, suffered a $130 million loss from the big bet in Bitcoin, where he preferred to get rid of all his investment for fear of losing it altogether.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the legendary technology investor invested in Bitcoin late in 2017 on the recommendation of Peter Briger, Co-Chairman of Fortress Investment. At the time, Softbank was in the process of acquiring the company. "The acquisition began on February 15th, 2017 and was completed on December 28th, 2018".

The reason behind Briger's recommendation is that Fortress has continued to develop since 2013 and by late 2017 there were returns on this investment.

But with the big price drop of Bitcoin in 2018, Masayoshi Son decided to liquidate all his holdings of the cryptocurrency, even at a cost of $130 million.