By Cecile Lefort
SYDNEY, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Australian stocks are set for a weak start on Monday, tracking a negative lead from Wall Street on its last 2015 trading day with falling commodity prices likely to provide headwind.
Global miner BHP Billiton (L:BLT) BHP.AX is expected to open lower after a 1 percent loss in its U.S. ADRs BHP.N. .
The local stock index futures YAPcm1 dropped 0.6 percent to 5,257.0, a 38.8-point discount to the close of the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO on Thursday.
The Australian benchmark index fell 2.1 percent in 2015, its first annual loss in four years as slumping iron ore and metal prices hit blue-chip mining stocks, while onerous capital rules hurt the heavyweight banking sector. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N14K03X
New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 will be shut for a public holiday and re-open on Tuesday. The benchmark leapt 13 percent in 2015, the fourth annual gain with dairy firm A2 Milk ATM.NZ among the top outperformers with a 220 percent rise.
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