SYDNEY, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to trade flat on Thursday as new suggestions of a December U.S. interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve keep the brakes on bargain hunting.
Overnight declines in the oil price LCOc1 and on Wall Street .SPX will likely add to the downward pressure. O/R .N
The local share price index futures YAPcm1 were up 5.0 points at 5,222.0, a 21.3-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close, before the start of trading. The benchmark rose 3.1 points to 5,242.3 a day earlier.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 was down 4.5 points or 0.1 percent at 6,066.7 in early trade.
For a summary of overnight action across global markets, double-click on AU/CALL
For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double-click on PRESS/AUB