* Moody's sees negative outlook for AMP's rating
* Healthscope gets new $3.3 bln takeover offer
* ANZ biggest drag as it trade ex-dividend
By Susan Mathew
May 14 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Monday, tracking Wall Street's modest gains on Friday, with material and financial stocks leading stocks up.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was 0.25 percent, or 15 points, higher at 6,131.2 at 0313 GMT. The U.S. market was lifted by healthcare shares. .N
Miners BHP BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX climbed more than 1 percent each, in line with iron ore's move higher on Friday. IRONORE/
Westpac Banking WBC.AX , Commonwealth Bank CBA.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX were up between 0.3 and 1.3 percent, while ANZ was the index's biggest drag, down 2.3 percent as shares traded ex-dividend. McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets, said the market's modest gains were "impressive" considering that a major bank was trading ex-dividend.
CBA, embroiled in a series of scandals and criticised during an inquiry into the financial sector, appointed a new chief financial officer on Monday. of Australia's largest wealth manager AMP Ltd AMP.AX , which fell to near 7-year lows on Friday, regained some ground on Monday.
The stock was up 3.5 percent, but that was pared to 2.1 percent after rating agency Moody's said AMP's governance failures as revealed by the Royal Commission inquiry into the financial sector were "credit negative". Friday, Macquarie flagging downgraded AMP to "neutral" from "outperform". operator Healthscope HSO.AX gained up to 4.5 percent after receiving an A$4.35 billion ($3.28 billion)takeover offer from Canada's Brookfield Asset Management Inc, trumping a $3.1 billion offer by domestic private equity firm and consortium partners in April. TLS.AX shares were the second biggest drag on the index, down 4.4 percent, posting their biggest one-day drop in nearly 8-1/2 months, after the company warned that fiscal 2018 earnings would be at the bottom end of guidance and that it expects challenging conditions to continue in 2019. Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was 0.2 percent, or 17.67 points, higher at 8,694.36 climbing new highs.
Dairy company a2Milk ATM.NZ and healthcare stock Fisher & Paykel FPH.NZ were the top boosts to the index, up 2.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
For more individual stocks activity click on STXBZ
($1 = 1.3243 Australian dollars)