(Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to pick up on Monday backed by firm oil prices and a positive finish last week on Wall Street.
Oil prices ended about 1 percent higher on Friday as OPEC members said they may wait till January to make a decision about the extension of output cuts. [O/R]
Wall Street ended marginally higher on Friday as worries about Washington's latest healthcare legislation proposal lost steam. [.N]
The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> rose 0.123 percent, or 7 points, to 5,679, a 3.1-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark rose 0.5 percent on Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> was flat in early trade.
(Reporting by Hanna Paul in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Cooney)
