(Reuters) - Australian shares were set for a strong start on Friday, taking a cue from Wall Street which was boosted by gains in Wal-Mart and technology shares.
Basic materials stocks, the second biggest sector on the benchmark index <.AXJO> by market capitalization, stand to gain from iron ore prices that climbed 2.09 percent on the Dalian Commodity Exchange <DCIOcv1>. [IRONORE/]
The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> climbed 0.7 percent, or 42 points to 5993, a 49.489-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark rose 0.2 percent on Thursday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> was steady or 2.85 points higher to 8037.55 in early trade.
(Reporting by Nicole Pinto in Bengaluru)
