July 9 (Reuters) - Australian shares were set to clock firm gains on Thursday, with a rally on Wall Street overnight likely to help offset worries over Australia's second largest city returning to a lockdown over a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
Offering a positive lead, U.S stocks rose on Wednesday and the Nasdaq hit a record closing high, supported by technology shares as investors held on to hopes of an economic rebound on the back of a raft of upbeat economic data in past weeks. .N
However, concerns over the virus will likely cap gains after Melbourne went back into lockdown, forcing five million Australians to stay home for all but essential business for the next six weeks. local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.8%, a 20.7-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark fell 1.5% on Wednesday in its worst session in more than a week.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.9% to 11,599.28 points in early trade.