(Reuters) - Australian shares pared earlier gains to finish 0.2 percent higher on Monday, with strength in miners countered by a fall in Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> rose 12.2 points to 5,841.3 at the close of trade after rising as much as 0.7 percent earlier on relief that the fallout from U.S.-led strikes on Syria over the weekend appeared limited. [MKTS/GLOB]
The benchmark rose 0.2 percent on Friday.
The United States, France and Britain launched missiles targeting what the Pentagon said were three chemical weapons facilities in Syria in retaliation for a suspected poison gas attack in Douma earlier in April.
Top miner BHP Billiton <BHP.AX> was the biggest boost on the index, rising 0.8 percent to its best close since March 1.
South32 Ltd <S32.AX> rose 3.2 percent, while Alumina Ltd <AWC.AX> closed up 2.7 percent at its highest in seven years.
Shanghai aluminium prices hit a two-month high after Rio Tinto <RIO.AX> said it would declare force majeure on certain customer contracts in light of U.S. sanctions on its partner, Russian aluminium giant Rusal.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia <CBA.AX> capped the gains on the index, reversing from a 0.5 percent rise earlier to fall 0.7 percent.
Australia's four biggest retail banks and wealth manager AMP <AMP.AX> have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation to customers for poor advice over the past decade, a major inquiry into the financial sector heard on Monday.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> fell 0.1 percent or 8.42 points to finish the session at 8,406.35.
Healthcare stocks accounted for most of the index's losses, with Ryman Healthcare <RYM.NZ> falling 2.6 percent and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation <FPH.NZ> down 0.7 percent.
Dairy firm a2 Milk Company <ATM.NZ> helped cut some losses on the index, firming 2.2 percent after announcing plans to expand into South Korea.
The country's biggest telecommunications and internet provider Spark New Zealand <SPK.NZ> closed up 1.5 percent after securing rights to stream the Rugby World Cup 2019.
(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
