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Markets at record highs, nickel rising

Strong earnings have boosted stock markets to fresh record highs.
Markets at record highs, nickel rising Markets at record highs, nickel rising Markets at record highs, nickel rising Markets at record highs, nickel rising Markets at record highs, nickel rising

Excellon Resources rose in Toronto

Staff reporter

The S&P 500 reached new heights on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 35,000 for the first time and the S&P/ASX 200 was at an all-time high today.

Treasuries were little changed but traders are braced for possible turbulence as Fed officials resume talks at this week's two-day policy meeting on when and how to taper stimulus, Bloomberg reported.

In commodities, nickel looks set to break through US$20,000 per tonne and may push higher this quarter as demand improves, with plenty of indicators suggesting the market is overcoming a supply-side shock that mauled prices in March, the wire service said.

Nickel closed 2.4% higher on Friday to US$19,373/t.

Anglo American gained 1.86% in London on an upbeat day for diversified miners.

Freeport-McMoRan rose more than 1% in New York however the gold price - which fluctuated around the US$1,800 an ounce mark - weighed on the gold sector in Toronto.

Only Kinross Gold and Kirkland Lake Gold managed minor gains on the S&P/TSX Composite Index, while New Gold lost 3.98%.

Spot gold was around $1,804 an ounce at the time of writing.

Finally, silver-lead-zinc miner Excellon Resources (TSX: EXN) closed up 15% on Friday after reporting "strong and consistent production" in the June quarter despite weather conditions, power outages and metallurgical variances.