May 17 (Reuters) - Australian stocks inched higher on Tuesday,...

May 17 (Reuters) - Australian stocks inched higher on Tuesday, lifted by mining and energy companies, although a slide shares of Brambles Ltd and worries of a recession kept sentiment in check.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) rose 0.3% to 7,113.0 by 0010 GMT, extending gains for a third straight session.

Brambles (BXB) fell 6.8% to be the top loser on the benchmark after European private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners ended preliminary talks with the company over a potential A$20 billion ($14 billion) takeover offer.

Meanwhile, data showing a sharp fall in Chinese retail and factory activity in April, due to severely disrupted supply chains due to COVID-19 lockdowns, raised concerns of economic health globally.

Among other individual stocks and sectors, higher iron ore prices pushed miners .AXMM to climb 1.2%. BHP (BHP) , Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue Metals (FMG) gained between 0.9% and 2.2%.

Energy stocks .AXEJ added 1.6% to lead gains on the benchmark as they tracked strong oil prices. Heavyweights Woodside Petroleum (WPL) and Santos (STO) were up nearly 2% and 2.2%, respectively.

Technology stocks .AXIJ slipped up to 1.3%, tracking losses in its Wall Street peers.

ASX-listed shares of Block Inc (SQ2) fell 3.8%. Financials .AXFJ advanced 0.5% with the "Big Four" banks rising 0.1%-0.87%.

Strong bullion prices led gold stocks .AXGD to rise 1.1%, with the country's largest gold miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) up nearly 1%.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) fell 0.26% to 11,128.9 points.