March 6 (Reuters) - 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.