May 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares scaled a near 15-month high on Monday boosted by gains in gold and iron ore miners on the back of firmer metal prices, and as shares in the country's top two casino operators jumped on a proposed merger.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.9% to 7,147 points at 0045 GMT, their highest since Feb. 21, 2020.
Heavyweight miners .AXMM were the top boosts to the benchmark, rising 2.55%, with iron-ore giant Fortescue Metals Group Ltd FMG.AX up 4.57%, followed by Ioneer Ltd INR.AX , gaining 4.23%.
Gold miners .AXGD climbed 2.08% as the prices of precious metal edged to three-month highs.
Pantoro Ltd PNR.AX rose 4.88%, while Catalyst Metals Ltd CYL.AX gained 4.83%.
Casino giants Star Entertainment SGR.AX and Crown Resorts CWN.AX both hit multi-month highs after the former proposed an all-stock buyout of its larger rival in a deal valued at A$9 billion. the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.53% to 12,662.4 points.
Shares in a2 Milk ATM.NZ sank as much as 16.3% to a three-and-a-half year low after the dairy producer cut its annual sales forecast for the third time. other markets, Japan's Nikkei .N225 was up 0.86% at 29609.65 points and the S&P 500 E-minis futures EScv1 advanced 0.3%. ($1 = 1.2736 Australian dollars)