S&P/ASX 200 jumps 1.78% following a solid lead from Wall Street

S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO) jumped 1.78% to 6724 points by about 1.47 pm after a Wall Street rally overnight on the prospect of a stimulus boost following the Democrats' dual win in the Georgia Senate run-off. Turmoil in the US where supporters of US President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol and disrupted electoral count on Wednesday did not appear to impact stock market sentiments. Victories for both Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the state of Georgia mean the Democrats have effective control of the Senate, as well as the White House and Congress. This gives the Democrats a solid platform to enact their policy agenda, including increased pandemic support. Locally, iron ore giants BHP Group (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) all hit new record highs as the bulk metal continued its good run with a 0.5% rise to $US168.72 a tonne. Top gainers Today’s top gainers on the ASX include Creso Pharma Ltd (ASX:CPH) (+19.44%), St George Mining Ltd (ASX:SGQ) (+15.00%), Legend Mining Limited (ASX:LEG) (+14.29%), Arrow Minerals Ltd (ASX:AMD) (+14.29%), Engage:BDR Ltd (ASX:EN1) (+20.00%), Polarx Ltd (ASX:PXX) (+15.15%) and Astro Resources N.L. (ASX:ARO) (+25.00%). Proactive news headlines: Westar Resources set for high impact newsflow in 2021 as parallel gold exploration programs get underway Westar Resources Ltd, which has exploration projects in Western Australia’s prolific Goldfields region, is expecting consistent high-impact newsflow in 2021 as its parallel exploration program gets underway. Imugene completes recruitment to HER-VAXX Phase 2 gastric cancer trial Imugene Limited (ASX:IMU) (OTCMKTS:IUGNF) has completed recruitment to the Phase 2 trial of its B-cell activating immunotherapy HER-Vaxx in Her-2/Neu overexpressing advanced/metastatic gastric/GEJ cancer. Kazia Therapeutics GBM AGILE pivotal study commences recruitment to the paxalisib arm Kazia Therapeutics Limited’s (ASX:KZA) (NASDAQ:KZIA) (FRA:NV9) GBM AGILE pivotal study (NCT03970447) - an international adaptive, multi-drug study to expedite the development of new therapies for glioblastoma - has commenced recruitment to the paxalisib arm. CardieX raises $3.207 million in share purchase plan, 220% above target Cardiex Ltd (ASX:CDX) has completed its share purchase plan (SPP), receiving applications for fully paid ordinary shares from eligible shareholders at an issue price of $0.05 per share in the amount of $3.207 million. Vango Mining non-executive director endorses company’s gold exploration strategy with on-market purchase Vango Mining Ltd’s (ASX:VAN) non-executive director Yan Chao Guo has shown support for the company’s exploration strategy across its Marymia Gold Project with on-market purchases. Si6 identifies multiple anomalies at Maibele Project in Botswana Si6 Metals Ltd (ASX:SI6) has identified numerous new, strong multiple anomalies at the Maibele Project in Botswana following the completion of 20 square kilometres of detailed Gradient Array Induced Polarisation (IP) surveying. Fe Limited chairman shows faith in near-term iron ore production strategy by early exercise of options Fe Limited executive chairman Tony Sage has demonstrated his confidence in the company’s near-term iron ore production strategy by the early exercising of 5 million options with a total value of $100,000.