SYDNEY, March 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to follow Wall St higher on Friday as a rally in commodity prices, brought on by a weaker U.S. dollar, encourages investors to buy mining and energy stocks.
Oil CLc1 surged 5 percent to hit 2016 highs overnight, spurred by the declining currency and hopes that major producers will freeze output. local share price index futures YAPcm1 were up 24 points, or 0.5 percent, to 5,194.0 before the start of trading, a 25.8-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close.
The benchmark jumped nearly 1 percent on Thursday, up 49.17 points to 5,168.20 at the close of trade.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 11.4 points, or 0.2 percent, to 6,584.8 in early trade.
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