Aug 19 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open higher on Monday following a strong Wall Street close on Friday, where news of potential German economic stimulus brought buyers back to the equities market.
Germany's coalition government is willing to suspend its balanced budget rule and take on debt, according to Der Spiegel magazine, raising hopes that Europe's largest economy could steer itself away from recession and cooling worries over a global economic slowdown. local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.6%, a 10.5-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark closed marginally lower on Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.15% to 10,671.34 in early trade.