Australia shares on track for six-day winning streak; NZ up

© Reuters. Australia shares on track for six-day winning streak; NZ up

By Christina Martin

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares climbed for a sixth straight session on Wednesday and touched a five-month high, shrugging off a dip in base metal prices and taking their cues from U.S. stocks, which rose overnight.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.2 percent, or 11.288 points to 5,900.9, by 0045 GMT. The benchmark ended up 0.7 percent on Tuesday.

Industrials, healthcare and financials stocks led the gains on the index.

"The Australian markets are looking a little bit stretched today. With very little activity overnight and an overbought relative strength index, we'd have expected it to have had a pause or pullback," said Kurt Mayell, Asian equity hedge analyst at CMC Markets Asia Pacific Pty Ltd.

"But it seems traders are happy to continue buying this momentum."

Supply chain logistics company Brambles Ltd BXB.AX was the biggest gainer on the industrials index .AXJI and among the top gainers on the main index, rising as much as 3.9 percent to an eight-week high after it posted 6 percent jump in first-quarter sales revenue.

Australia's healthcare stocks .AXHJ gained as much as 0.6 percent to its highest in more than three months, with Mayne Pharma Group Ltd MYX.AX and Healthscope Ltd HSO.AX up as much as 2.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Financials shot up as much as 0.3 percent, its highest since July 28, mostly boosted by smaller banks as three of the "Big Four" slipped between 0.1 percent and 0.4 percent.

"The banks seem to be getting more interest in smaller financials with the likes of Bendigo BEN.AX trading a little higher and IOOF IFL.AX trading strongly having successfully completed its institutional placement to help fund its ANZ wealth purchase," said Mayell.

Meanwhile, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 also edged higher, up 0.2 percent, or 13.75 points, to 8,125.8, supported by telecoms, industrials and healthcare stocks.

Global dairy prices slumped for the second time in a row at an auction held early on Wednesday, suggesting an earlier rally was running out of steam.