(Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to edge higher at Thursday's open with rising oil and metal prices likely helping the local benchmark overcome losses on Wednesday in all three major U.S. indexes.
July Brent futures <LCOc1> settled up 23 cents at $73.36 a barrel, while the most-active iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange <DCIOcv1> rose more than 2 percent. [O/R] [IRONORE/]
The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> rose 4 points to 6,050, a 0.2 point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark rose 0.6 percent on Wednesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> fell by 3.12 points to 8,491.120 in early trade.
(Reporting by Syed Saif Hussain Naqvi in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese)
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