windows 10 - Single quote marks in a batch file don't make the chosen program to be executed

When I try to get the output of a command in a batch file by using single quotes I am getting the following info:

C:>for /f "tokens=2 delims=:." %a in ('chcp') do (echo %a)

'chcp' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

This command can be run from the same location directly:

C:>chcp

Active code page: 437

I have already checked env variables and they seem to be set correctly.
Above problem occurs also when I use 'dir' instead of 'chcp'.

Any ideas what can be the reason and how to fix that?

OS: WIN 10