US sharemarkets rose again on Monday on optimism about US China trade talks. Technology led the gains with Netflix up 6.0% and Amazon up 3.4%. Reuters reported "Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday China and the United States were likely to reach a good settlement over immediate trade issues, while an agreement on structural trade issues and enforcement will be harder." The Dow Jones was higher by 98 points or 0.4% after being up as much as 255 points. The S&P500 index was up by 0.7%. The Nasdaq index was up by 85 points or 1.3%.

Global oil prices rose by around 1% on Monday. US-China trade talks continue to encourage investors about the outlook for global growth and thus oil demand. Also investors are hopeful that lower OPEC production will support prices. Brent crude rose by US27cents or 0.5% to US$57.33 a barrel and the US Nymex price rose by US56 cents or 1.2% to US$48.52 a barrel.

Base metal prices rose by up to 2.6% on the London Metal Exchange with zinc up the most. But aluminium fell by 0.2% while other metals rose up to 1.1%.

The gold futures price rose by US$4.10 an ounce or 0.3% to $1,289.90 an ounce. The spot gold price was trading near US$1,288 an ounce in late US trade. Iron ore rose by US$1.50 or 2.0% to US$74.95 a tonne. The Financial Times has reported that China has approved US$125 billion of rail projects in fiscal stimulus.

Monday 7 January - close. The ASX has shaken off most of its losses from its dismal December, closing at its highest level in over a month. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 63.8 points, or 1.14 per cent, to close at 5683.2 at 1615 AEDT on Monday, with confidence high on the back of strong US jobs data. The broader All Ordinaries was up 67.5 points, or 1.19 per cent, 5744.5.

Pensana Metals Ltd: (PM8.ASX, 1.7cps, m.cap A$20.4m with 1,202.2m SOI, Cash $4.6m, Rare Earths explorer)

• Pensana recently announced an excellent set of drill results from its exploration programme at its Longonjo NdPr Project in Angola
• Results from the latest 31 holes include a number of high-grade intersections starting from the surface up to 42 metres in thickness including:
  • LRC053: 10 metres @ 8.03% REO including 1.98% NdPr from surface and 14 metres at 7.33% REO including 1.86% NdPr from 20 metres
  • LRC055: 14 metres @ 5.45% REO including 1.13 NdPr from surface
  • LRC057: 42 metres at 3.98% REO including 0.85% NdPr from surface
  • LRC042: 12 metres at 4.01% REO including 1.01% NdPr from surface
• The results follow on from the previously announced results which also included high-grade intersections starting from surface and up to 65 metres in thickness
• With just over half of the results reported the mineralisation has been extended in all directions and remains open
• Results from 67 of the 108 holes drilled have extended the area of the Mineral Resource estimate by several hundred metres to the north, east and the west. The mineralisation appears to have been closed off to the north but remains open in all other directions with broad, high-grade intersections reported at either end of the east-west drill line. The mineralisation occurs as a weathered blanket, up to 65 metres in thickness, draped across the top of the 3.8 square kilometre carbonatite intrusion. The results expected shortly from the 41 holes drilled in the 2,200 by 900 metre southern area of the carbonatite are expected to further extend the mineralisation.
• Executive Director Dave Hammond commented: “These  broad  intersections  of  high‐grade  mineralisation  from  surface  are exceptional  and  they  follow  on  from  similar  intersections  reported  in  earlier holes. With just over half of the drill results received to date it’s clear that much of the weathered blanket covering the 3.8 square kilometre carbonatite is mineralised and that  we  are  already  looking  at  the  potential  for  a  very  substantial expansion of the maiden Mineral Resource estimate. We  are  eagerly  anticipating  the  results  from  the  remaining  41  holes  in  the untested  southern  area,  which  has considerable  potential  to  add  further extensions to the mineralisation.  Once  all the  results  have  been  received,  we  look  forward  to  reporting  an upgraded Mineral Resource estimate early in 2019.” 
• Please contact the desk or your adviser on +61 8 6168 2668 should you wish to discuss further.
• A link to the full announcement can be found here