By Aaron Saldanha
Nov. 2 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to slip lower on Thursday morning, on oil prices weakening after rallying to their highest in over two years.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 closed down 45 cents, or 0.74 percent, at $60.49 a barrel, receding from highs last touched in June 2015 after the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stocks fell 2.4 million barrels last week, a smaller draw down than the American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry trade group, had reported. O/R
Australia is due to release its trade balance data later in the day. AUBOGS=ECI .
The share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.1 percent, or 4 points, to 5,933, a 4.8-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark rose 0.5 percent on Wednesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped 0.1 percent in early trade, weighed down by healthcare and consumer staples stocks.
The index's biggest drag was Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd FPH.NZ , which fell as much as 1.2 percent.
On Wednesday, data showed that house prices grew at their slowest pace in five years, with those in the Auckland region falling for the first time in six years.