Feb 21 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to slip at Wednesday's open as metal prices on the London Metal Exchange continued to weaken.
Copper CMCU3 edged down 0.4 percent on Tuesday, while aluminium CMAL3 fell 1.3 percent.
Australian share price index futures YAPcm1 fell about 0.5 percent, or 28 points, to 5,877, a 63.9-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark was flat on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 1 percent in early trade, primarily due to consumer staples.
The biggest prop to the index and its biggest percentage gainer was a2 Milk Company Ltd ATM.NZ , which zoomed as much as 16.8 percent to an all-time high. The firm reported a record first half profit due to higher demand in China.