Dec 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open lower on Monday, with the benchmark's heavyweight iron ore miners likely to trade lower following a drop in prices of the steelmaking commodity over the weekend.
Chinese iron ore futures fell as much as 1.3% to 633 yuan per tonne on Friday, amid uncertainties over demand from China. Gold prices also traded lower, which is likely to add to pressure on miners of the safe-haven metal. IRONORE/
The local share price index futures YAPcm1 fell 26 points or 0.4%, a 1.3% discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark fell 0.3% on Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.1% or 13.16 points to 11,495.45 in early trade.