* Aussie stocks gain for fifth straight session
* BHP, Rio hover near six-month highs
* Oil prices buoy energy stocks
By Shreya Mariam Job
Jan 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares hit a new record high on Monday driven by material and energy stocks and supported by strong commodity prices, while investors retained their optimism from the breach of a major resistance level last week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.3%, or 23.50 points, to 7087.60 by 0051 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.3% on Friday.
The benchmark crossed the 7,000 threshold and hit record levels almost every single day last week with the index scaling a new record level on Monday.
While there is a slight pull back in the market, the momentum remains strong and that has sparked a positive sentiment among investors, Ashley Glover, head of sales trading APAC & Canada at CMC Markets said.
Material stocks .AXMM contributed to most of the gains to the benchmark with copper prices hovering near eight month highs on Friday. MET/L
Shares of global miner BHP Group BHP.AX rose as much as 1.7% to their near six-month high, a day ahead of the company's quarterly production results.
Rival Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd RIO.AX also hit an over six-month high. The miner had posted a 3% drop in iron ore shipments in 2019 but forecast higher iron ore shipments in 2020 on Friday. stronger oil prices buoyed energy stocks .AXEJ which were set to snap two sessions of losses rising about 0.5%.
Brent crude prices rose over 1.7% after shutdowns of oil fields in Libya. O/R
Shares of Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX rose 0.5%, while those of Beach Energy BPT.AX gained 2.7%.
Elsewhere, Australian oil minnow FAR Ltd FAR.AX said it had taken the final investment decision and got loan approvals to develop its interest in the Sangomar project sending its shares up as much as 4.7%.
Meanwhile, financial stocks .AXFJ edged higher with losses among insurance stocks limiting gains.
The rampant bushfires in Australia have weighed on insurers with Suncorp Group SUN.AX and Insurance Australia Group IAG.AX receiving claims of nearly A$400 million each. of the two companies declined 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively.
Separately, shares of Lynas Corp LYC.AX fell 1.4% following the company's statement after market hours on Friday that three individuals had filed a case in Malaysia challenging the local government's decision to renew the rare earths miner's operating licence last year. Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped 0.2%, or 26.78 points, to 11,773.43.
Shares of Gentrack Group GTK.NZ hit an over three-year low, while Synlait Milk SML.NZ dipped 0.8%.