Australia shares near 9-mth peak, NZ stocks scales all-time high

By Cecile Lefort and Charlotte Greenfield

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares held near nine-month peaks on Monday, as a rebound in oil prices offset weakness in the mining sector, while New Zealand stocks scaled a record high, putting both indices on track for a 3 percent monthly gain.

The S&P/ASX 200 index edged up 0.1 percent or 4 points to 5,410 by 2:29 pm (0429 GMT), not far from an August 2014 peak of 5,427.7 touched on Friday. The benchmark has leapt 3 percent so far in May in the third consecutive month of gain.

Energy firms marked sizable gains as oil prices held near 8-month peaks. Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in LNG and WorleyParsons (Dusseldorf: WF9.DU - news) rose nearly 5 percent each, while Santos (Dusseldorf: STS1.DU - news) added 1.3 percent.

Cleaning company Spotless Group Holdings jumped 6.2 percent after it reaffirmed its earnings forecast and announced it may be selling its laundry business.

Australian packaged food supplier Patties Foods Ltd exploded 17 percent higher to reach a three-year peak after receiving a A$230 million ($165 million) takeover bid from private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP).

On the negative ledger, miners struggled as gold prices shaved 1 percent after comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reinforced expectations of a U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . interest rate hike.

BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) fell 0.4 percent, while fellow global miner Newcrest shed 2.3 percent.

Banks also came under pressure with Commonwealth Bank of Australia off 1 percent, while Australia & New Zealand Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac Bank shed around 0.21 percent.

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New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX (Other OTC: NZSTY - news) 50 index scaled a fresh all-time high. It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) added 0.4 percent or 26.2 points to 7,018.82 with the index having jumped 11 percent so far this year.

The biggest gainers were Air New Zealand

Technology stocks also did well with accounting software company Xero (Frankfurt: 0XE.F - news) up 1.71 percent and online auction site Trade Me (NZSE: TME.NZ - news) . up 1.49 percent.

Steel product manufacturer Steel Tube lost 1.47 percent while telecommunications provider Spark New Zealand (Other OTC: NZTCY - news) fell 1.34 percent. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)