(Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to slip at Wednesday's open as metal prices on the London Metal Exchange continued to weaken.
Copper <CMCU3> edged down 0.4 percent on Tuesday, while aluminium <CMAL3> fell 1.3 percent.
Australian share price index futures <YAPcm1> fell about 0.5 percent, or 28 points, to 5,877, a 63.9-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark was flat on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> rose 1 percent in early trade, primarily due to consumer staples.
The biggest prop to the index and its biggest percentage gainer was a2 Milk Company Ltd <ATM.NZ>, which zoomed as much as 16.8 percent to an all-time high. The firm reported a record first half profit due to higher demand in China.
(Reporting by Aaron Saldanha in Bengaluru; editing by Mark Heinrich)
