News: VAH Aussie, NZ shares edge up on French vote, weaker ore price hurts miners

Australia shares edged up on Monday to their highest level in two weeks, as markets globally drew relief from centrist Emmanuel Macron winning the French presidential election's first round, but mining shares fell due to weaker metal prices.

Investors globally have been uneasy over the rise Marine le Pen, the far right leader who wants to take France out of the European Union, and while she will be Macron's opponent in the run-off, latest opinion polls show Macron is likely to emerge as the victor from the vote on May 7.

"Macron wants to stay with the EU, which reflects steadiness in markets. The fact that he has won, and the fact that he is a centre left candidate, means he has got quite a good chance of winning, which is what markets are hoping for now," said Tony Farnham, economist at Paterson Securities.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) rose 9.26 points or 0.16 percent to 5,863.2 by 0258 GMT.

All four big banks were among the top gainers on the benchmark (xjo), adding around 0.2 percent to the overall gains.

Insurers also added gains, and lifted the financials index .AXFJ to its highest in two weeks. General insurer Steadfast Group (SDF) hit a record high after rising as much as 1 percent.

Oil majors rose, lifting the energy index .AXEJ 0.32 percent on the back of firmer oil prices which recovered from last week's big losses, driven by expectations that OPEC will extend a pledge to cut output in 2017. [O/R]

Qantas Airways (QAN) and rival Virgin Australia (VAH) also contributed to the uptrend, rising 1.5 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.

Drags on the index came from iron miners BHP Billiton (BHP), Fortescue Metals (FMG) and Rio Tinto (RIO) after the most-active iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange .DCIOcv1 fell 2 percent.

Gold miners Evolution Mining (EVN), Newcrest Mining (NCM), OceanaGold (OGC) and Alacer Gold Corp (AQG) slumped on a dip in the gold price .

Coca-Cola Amatil (CCL) slumped as much as 4.4 percent to its lowest in five months following earnings guidance on Friday for a weak performance in the first half of 2017.

Grocery giant Wesfarmers (WES) slipped 0.5 percent, while rival Woolworths (WOW) rose half a percent.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rose 0.42 percent or 30.16 points to 7,227.38, led by consumer discretionary and material stocks.

The country's biggest listed construction company, Fletcher Building (FBU) led gains, followed by telecom company Chorus Ltd (CNU), which rose as much as 3.56 percent.