Australian shares were set to fall at open on Friday, tracking a sharp sell-off on Wall Street, as persisting worries over mounting cases of the coronavirus outside China dented risk appetite.
The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> fell about 2.5%, a 145.7-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark closed 1.1% higher on Thursday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> declined about 2.4% in early trade.
(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)
