By Sonali Paul and Charlotte Greenfield
MELBOURNE/WELLINGTON, May 17 (Reuters) - Australian and New Zealand shares climbed on Tuesday stoked by steel, mining and energy stocks, with commodities benefitting from better risk appetite as oil prices hit six-month highs due to supply worries.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose nearly 1 percent, or 66.82 points to an all-time high of 6,980.95, as investors hunted for yield in the share market with bank interest rates at record lows.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 28.65 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,387.10 by 0256 GMT, adding to a 0.6 percent gain on Monday.
Steel companies were the top gainers in both Australia and New Zealand, with Bluescope Steel BSL.AX up nearly 10 percent and Steel & Tube Holdings STU.NZ up more than 4 percent, recovering from a slump over the past month, helped by signs of a pick-up in property investment and construction in China.
"There is a view that whilst the steel market is still very tough, there are some signs of green shoots," said James McGlew, executive director at broker Argonaut in Perth.
Producers of the key steel-making ingredient iron ore jumped, too, with Fortescue Metals FMG.AX surging 5.2 percent.
"There's been a palpable change in mood towards iron ore stocks in general," McGlew said.
Top miner BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) BHP.AX , which is also an oil producer, jumped 3 percent. Oil and gas producers Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX rose 2.3 percent, while Santos STO.AX jumped 5 percent.
The big banks all climbed, except for National Australia Bank NAB.AX , which fell 3.2 percent as it traded without rights to its dividend.
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In New Zealand, high yielding electricity stocks performed well with Contact Energy CEN.NZ rising 1.7 percent and Meridian Energy MEL.NZ up 3.31 percent.
"As more funds come out of the banks into the market, brokers and analysts are directing them to those stocks in particular," said Grant Williamson, investment adviser at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)