By Cecile Lefort and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, May 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares held near nine-month peaks on Monday, as a rebound in oil prices offset weakness in the mining sector, while New Zealand stocks scaled a record high, putting both indices on track for a 3 percent monthly gain.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO edged up 0.1 percent or 4 points to 5,410 by 2:29 pm (0429 GMT), not far from an August 2014 peak of 5,427.7 touched on Friday. The benchmark has leapt 3 percent so far in May in the third consecutive month of gain.
Energy firms marked sizable gains as oil prices CLc1 held near 8-month peaks. Shares in LNG LNG.AX and WorleyParsons WOR.AX rose nearly 5 percent each, while Santos STO.AX added 1.3 percent.
Cleaning company Spotless Group Holdings SPO.AX jumped 6.2 percent after it reaffirmed its earnings forecast and announced it may be selling its laundry business.
Australian packaged food supplier Patties Foods Ltd PFL.AX exploded 17 percent higher to reach a three-year peak after receiving a A$230 million ($165 million) takeover bid from private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners (PEP). the negative ledger, miners struggled as gold prices shaved 1 percent after comments by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reinforced expectations of a U.S. interest rate hike.
BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) BHP.AX fell 0.4 percent, while fellow global miner Newcrest NCM.AX shed 2.3 percent.
Banks also came under pressure with Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX off 1 percent, while Australia & New Zealand Bank ANZ.AX , National Australia Bank NAB.AX and Westpac Bank WBC.AX shed around 0.21 percent.
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New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 scaled a fresh all-time high. It added 0.4 percent or 26.2 points to 7,018.82 with the index having jumped 11 percent so far this year.
The biggest gainers were Air New Zealand <AIR.NZ, which rose 3.2 percent and insurance company Tower TWR.NZ , which rose 3.07 percent.
Technology stocks also did well with accounting software company Xero XRO.NZ up 1.71 percent and online auction site Trade Me TME.NZ . up 1.49 percent.
Steel product manufacturer Steel Tube STU.NZ lost 1.47 percent while telecommunications provider Spark New Zealand SPK.NZ fell 1.34 percent. (Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)