China returns from the Labour Day break today, while US president Donald Trump tweeted it was "exciting to see our country starting to open up again!"
The S&P 500 closed up 0.9%, the FTSE 100 rose 1.66% and commodity prices closed higher on the London Metal Exchange, where copper was up more than 0.6%.
Among the mining majors, diversified Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) and copper major Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE: FCX) both gained more than 1%.
Gold rose back above US$1,700 an ounce to be trading at $1,707/oz earlier on the spot market.
In Toronto, gold major Barrick Gold closed up 2.2% to within a dollar of the high of C$40.14 reached in April, a level last seen in 2012.
Mongolia-focused miner SouthGobi Resources (TSX: SGQ) made another substantial gain, up 40% on no news.
Finally, RNC Minerals (TSX: RNX) - which has pivoted in recent years from a focus on a nickel project in Canada to its high-grade gold mine in Western Australia - rose 6% ahead of speaking at a virtual investor conference later this week.
