Australian shares to open higher tracking Wall St, NZ up

Australian shares were likely to begin
trade higher on Friday, tracking a strong lead-in from Wall
Street as a better-than-expected earnings season soothed some
concerns over slowing corporate growth.
The local share price index futures rose 0.6% or 42
points to 6,714, a 20.4-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX
200 index close. The benchmark rose 0.3% on Thursday.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.2%
in early trade.