Japanese banks top week’s financial gainers, while bitcoin miners retreat (NASDAQ:RIOT)

This week’s financial gainers were led by major Japanese lenders as the yen continued to weaken (significantly) against the dollar. On the flip side, bitcoin (BTC-USD) miners fell the most with cryptocurrency prices pulling back.

Overall, financial stocks (with market cap over $2B) finished the week ended June 28 in the red, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSEARCA:XLF) slipping 0.5%, compared with the S&P 500’s -0.1% decrease.

Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (NYSE:MUFG) rose the most of any financial stock, jumping 11.5%, during a week in which the yen sank to a 38-year low against the U.S. dollar;

Pacific Premier Bancorp (NASDAQ:PPBI), gapped up 10.3%;

Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE:MFG), another Japan-based bank, climbed 9.5%;

Piper Sandler (NYSE:PIPR), an investment bank and institutional securities firm, gained 9.3%; and

Independent Bank Corp. (NASDAQ:INDB) rounded out the five biggest winners with a 9.2% advance.

On the losing side, bitcoin (BTC-USD) miner CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK), which during the week said it will acquire GRIID Infrastructure in an all-stock deal, slid 7.8%;

Securities brokerage Freedom Holding Corp. (NASDAQ:FRHC) dipped 5.9%;

Argentine lender Grupo Financiero Galicia (NASDAQ:GGAL) slumped 4.7%;

Visa (NYSE:V) fell 4.6% after a $30B antitrust settlement to limit credit-card swipe fees got rejected by a federal judge;

Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT), another bitcoin (BTC-USD) miner, drifted down 4.3%. During the week, Riot withdrew its $2.30 per share offer for Bitfarms.