Jan 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to rise on Thursday, taking their cue from Wall Street which climbed on higher earnings expectations.
Investors' expectations for higher earnings lifted U.S. stocks across sectors on Wednesday, with the main Wall Street indexes all rising about one percent. share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.2 percent, or 9 points to 5,969, a 46.8-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark fell 0.5 percent on Wednesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.2 percent in early trade.