Markets: FTSE 100 closes at over 7,000 for the first time

• FTSE 100 up 0.8% to 7,022
• Gold up 0.95% to $1,182.63/oz
• £/$ - 1.4949

Commodity stocks were among the top performers. Fresnillo was the highest climber of the day with a 5.3% rise, while Randgold added 3.2%.

In European markets, the Paris CAC 40 rose 1% to 5,087, and the German Xetra Dax added 1.2% to 12,039.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 each rose 0.9% to 18,127 and 2,108 respectively, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.7% higher at 5,026.

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Overnight in Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 01% to 19,754, and the broader Topix index gained 0.7% to 1,592. And in China, the Shanghai Composite rose 2% to 3,687, and the CSI 300 added 2% to 3,972.

Brent spot was trading at $54.38 early today, and in New York, crude oil was at $45.41. Spot gold was trading at $1,182 an ounce, silver was at $16.65 and platinum was at $1,133.

In the forex markets this morning, sterling was trading against the US dollar at 1.4849 and against the euro at 1.3763. The dollar was trading at 0.9268 against the euro and 120.08 against the Japanese yen.

And today, transport group FirstGroup says it has extended its contract to run the First Western rail franchise to 2019. FirstGroup will pay £68m to operate the franchise, which it has operated since 1998. Shares in the company were up by 2.5% in early trading today.