Markets: commodity stocks lift FTSE 100

FTSE 100 up 0.7% to 6,873
Gold up 0. 6% to $1,229.43/oz
£/$ - 1.5395

Tullow Oil was the day's top performer, up 5.2%. BHP Billiton rose 5%, BG Group added 4.3%, and Rio Tinto was 3.7% higher.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3% to 18,019, the S&P 500 was 0.4% higher at 2,096, and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.8% to 4,893.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to 18,004, and the broader Topix index was 0.7% higher at 1,459. And in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.6% to 3,222, and the CSI 300 added 0.9% to 3,499.

Brent spot was trading at $60.92 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $52.23. Spot gold was trading at $1,234 an ounce, silver was at $17.36 and platinum was at $1,210.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5407 and against the euro at 1.3491. The dollar was trading at 0.8756 against the euro and 118.60 against the Japanese yen.

And in the UK, commercial property firm Hammerson reported a big rise in profits for the year. Profit before tax at the company, which owns Brent Cross shopping centre in London and the Bullring in Birmingham, more than doubled to £703.1m, up from £341.2m in the previous year.

David Stevenson, former MoneyWeek writer and director of The Fleet Street Letter, believessilver could be about to start a record climb. Click here(capital at risk)to read about the three irresistible forces David believes could push the price of silver through the roof.

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