(Reuters) - Australian shares are likely to edge higher on Wednesday helped by strong metal prices and tracking positive performance on Wall Street on Tuesday.
Copper <CMCU3> on the LME climbed 2.3 percent while zinc <CMZN3> ended up 2.6 percent on Tuesday, while stocks on Wall Street ended the day up for a third straight session, buoyed by technology majors Amazon <AMZN.O> and Apple <AAPL.O>. [MET/L][.N]
The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> rose 0.2 percent or 14 points to 5,807, a 48.9-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark rose 0.6 percent on Tuesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> fell as much as 0.9 percent in early trade, dragged by Fletcher Building Ltd <FBU.NZ>, which lost as much as 13.8 percent after flagging a bigger loss for its buildings business in the 2018 fiscal year.
(Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru)
