* Australia shares on track for 5 straight gains
* New Zealand clocks best winning streak in 7 mths
By Ambar Warrick
May 11 (Reuters) - Australian shares were on track to end the week higher as a spillover of positive sentiment from Wall Street, coupled with stronger material stocks prompted extended gains in local equities.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 18 points or 0.31 percent to 6,137.6 by 0239 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.18 percent on Thursday, and was on track to gain more than 1 percent for the week.
Stephen Innes, head of trading in Asia-Pacific for Oanda saw investors' appetite for risk improving "especially in the commodities sector", but added that a weaker Australian dollar may be holding back gains.
Shares in miners rose thanks to sustained gains in copper and zinc prices. MET/L
BHP BHP.AX rose about 0.7 percent and South32 S32.AX rose 1 percent, giving the benchmark the biggest boost.
The Chilean copper commission said earlier this week that BHP's Escondida copper mine, the world's largest, tripled its production in the first quarter of 2018. discretionaries also rose, with media house Seven West Media SWM.AX and betting house Tabcorp Holdings TAH.AX rising more than 3 percent each.
On the other hand, embattled wealth manager AMP Ltd AMP.AX served as the biggest drag on the index, falling about 6.8 percent to a near 7-year low.
Recent revelations of management misconduct in the company prompted a rating downgrade by investment bank Macquarie Group MQG.AX . AMP could suffer A$35 billion ($26.34 billion) in investor outflows as a result of those revelations, Macquarie said. ZEALAND AT RECORD HIGH
New Zealand shares gained for eight consecutive sessions, and touched a record high.
The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 30.2 points or 0.35 percent to 8,667.92. The index was on track to gain about 1.4 percent for the week. Healthcare stocks led gains, with Ryman Healthcare RYM.NZ serving as the biggest boost to the benchmark.
The stock rose 3 percent to a record high as investors bought ahead of the firm's full year results.
New Zealand's central bank kept its official cash rate unchanged on Thursday, saying inflation remained below its target despite robust economic growth in the country. do look a lot more attractive with interest rates not expected to rise any time soon," said Tom McBride, investment advisor at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
($1 = 1.3286 Australian dollars)