By Ambar Warrick
Dec 14 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose to their highest in more than a month on Thursday as sentiment turned positive after the U.S. Fed raised interest rates on Wednesday and painted a rosier picture of global economic growth.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.17 percent to 6,032.3 points by 0051 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.14 percent on Wednesday.
The index was on track for its sixth consecutive session of gains, its best winning streak since October.
"It does appear that investors in the market today are looking for growth exposures," said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at CMC Markets.
" Where economic growth is picking up there's more demand for particular materials, so given that the U.S. Federal Feserve revised upwards its growth estimate for the globe and the U.S., investors appear to be adjusting their view of the outlook for growth as well," he added.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen said the global economy was doing well, and that she "felt good" about economic outlook. stocks were the best performers on the index, with the metals and mining index .AXMM clocking its best gain in more than one month.
Mining heavyweights BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) BHP.AX and South32 S32.AX were the biggest contributors to the mining index, rising about 0.8 percent and 4.4 percent respectively.
Energy stocks were also up, with fuel supplier Caltex Australia CTX.AX rising 4.5 percent after it said it would continue to be Woolworths Group's WOW.AX fuel supplier after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission opposed BP 's BP.L buyout of Woolworths' service stations. Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX was the biggest drag on the benchmark, dropping as much as 1 percent after it formally admitted to allegations against it from financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC, which included claims of late submission of over 53,000 so-called threshold transaction reports. store operator Myer Holdings MYR.AX fell to a record low after it said that its profit for the first half of fiscal 2018 would drop. New Zealand shares were largely flat, with gains in materials and industrials offset by falling utilities and real estate stocks.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.04 percent or 2.87 points to 8,287.45.
Fletcher Building FBU.NZ rose 1.9 percent, while Contact Energy CEN.NZ fell 1.1 percent.
a2 Milk ATM.NZ was among the biggest drags on the index, dropping 0.5 percent after it named Jayne Hrdlicka as its new chief executive.