* South32 climbs on rise in coking coal output
* Whitehaven leads gains in energy stocks
* NZ benchmark ends at more than 3-month high (Updates to close)
Jan 17 (Reuters) - Australia's share index closed at its highest in more than two months on Thursday, helped by stronger materials and energy stocks, though investors held off on making big bets ahead of a slew of production reports by major resource companies.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 14.9 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,850 for its third straight session of gains. It had advanced 0.4 percent on Wednesday.
The metals and mining sector .AXMM rose 0.7 percent, bolstered mainly by diversified miner South32 S32.AX , which gained 3.6 percent after its second-quarter coking coal output nearly doubled. stocks also gained from firmer commodity prices. London copper prices rose for a third session in a row on Thursday as China's move to inject liquidity into the financial system boosted expectations of higher demand in the world's top industrial metals consumer. MET/L
Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group FMG.AX firmed 1.8 percent while diversified miner and index heavyweight Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX , which will report its quarterly production on Friday, gained about 1 percent.
Mining giant BHP Group BHP.AX is set to report second-quarter production next week, along with oil and gas players Oil Search OSH.AX and Santos STO.AX . Resource stocks are the second largest sector on the benchmark.
Whitehaven Coal WHC.AX firmed more than 3.7 percent after its second-quarter coal production rose 11 percent. The stock was also the biggest boost to the energy index. Petroleum WPL.AX pared earlier gains to finish 0.7 percent higher after it reported a surge in quarterly revenue but flagged higher-than-expected investment costs for 2019. moved higher in tandem with their Wall Street peers as Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) BAC.N and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) GS.N reported strong earnings overnight, boosting investor sentiment.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd ANZ.AX finished the session 0.7 percent up, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd CBA.AX advanced 0.3 percent.
Australia's financial sub-index .AXFJ rose 0.4 percent, scaling a near 1-1/2-month high, with wealth manager AMP Ltd AMP.AX putting on 2.3 percent to be around the top percentage gainers among finance stocks.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose about 0.6 percent, or 50.37 points, to 9,077.81, a more than three-month high.
Consumer stocks such as Synlait Milk SML.NZ and a2 Milk ATM.NZ rose about 2.9 percent and 2.5 percent respectively.