Aussie shares eke out gain as materials weigh; NZ rises

* Australian shares gain 0.6 percent for the week

* BHP ends at near 3-mth low(Updates to close)

March 9 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended slightly higheron Friday as gains across a number of sectors outpaced a declinein materials, allowing the benchmark to end the week higher.

Material stocks faced heavy selling pressure after U.S.President Donald Trump pressed ahead on Thursday with importtariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent for aluminum, butexempted Canada and Mexico and offered the possibility ofexcluding other allies.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ended up 0.3 percent, or 20.3points, at 5,963.2, and gained about 0.6 percent through atumultous week.

Finanicals led gains, with the 'big-four banks' all endinghigher for the day. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, thebiggest company on the index by market capitalisation, advanced0.9 percent.

Financials tracked their U.S. peers higher, as the S&Pfinance sector index ended 0.3 percent higher overnight.

However, those gains were largely offset by losses forAustralian miners.

BHP Billiton, the largest miner on the index (andthe world) by market capitalisation, fell 1.7 percent, and wasby far the biggest drag on the index. The stock ended at itslowest since December 2017.

The benchmark metals and mining index ended 2percent lower. Rio Tinto fell about 2.7 percent to itslowest close since December.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Friday hewas hopeful of securing an exemption from U.S. tariffs on steeland aluminium after sustained lobby effort by his government.

Gold stocks also fell following gold prices, which extendedlosses after dollar strengthened against the yen on hopes ofeasing tensions between the United States and North Korea andahead of U.S. non-farm payroll data later in the day.

New Zealand shares ended higher, led by telecommunicationstocks, while a dip in healthcare stocks checked gains.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.4percent or 31.1 points to finish the session at 8,390.01. Theindex gained 1.2 percent for the week.

Telecommunications provider Spark New Zealand ended3.5 percent higher and was the biggest boost to the index, whileFisher & Paykel Healthcare Corp ended 1.7 percentlower.

(Reporting by Ambar Warrick in Bengaluru; Editing by KimCoghill)