Markets: FTSE 100 hits 15-year high

• FTSE 100 up 0.4% to 6,915
• Gold down 0.65% to $1,201.95/oz
• £/$ - 1.5399

Commodity stocks were among the top performers miner Glencore was the highest climber of the day with a 3% rise. Tullow Oil and BG Group gained 2.3% and 2.1% respectively, and Anglo American added 1.9%.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 slipped 0.1% to 4,830, and the German Xetra Dax rose 0.4% to 11,050.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9% to 18,140, the S&P 500 added 0.6% to 2,110, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% higher at 4,955.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7% to 18,466, and the broader Topix index added 0.2% to 1,502.China's markets remained closed for public holiday.

Brent spot was trading at $59.66 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $50.30. Spot gold was trading at $1,193 an ounce, silver was at $16.11 and platinum was at $1,156.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.5367 and against the euro at 1.3554. The dollar was trading at 0.8819 against the euro and 119.31 against the Japanese yen.

And today, HSBC announced a big fall in profits after a "challenging" 2014. Annual pre-tax profits fell by 17% to £1.21bn. HSBC shares were down by almost 6% in early trading.

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.